Day 6: Semi-Final Part 1

:00:38. > :00:48.A tale of Queen's 2017 is a tale of Kings. The reigning king was deposed

:00:49. > :00:56.early, his most likely successors felt too, and so just four remain.

:00:57. > :01:09.-- fell. Two have been king before, the Croat Marin Cilic in 2012. The

:01:10. > :01:13.Bulgarian record image of in 2014. How they would love to see a

:01:14. > :01:22.restoration of their respective monarchies. Two are men who would be

:01:23. > :01:34.King, a grand Duke of Luxembourg, Gilles Muller. And a Spanish

:01:35. > :01:35.aristocrat, Feliciano Lopez who came so close to Coronation three years

:01:36. > :01:47.ago. The tournament's very own Game of

:01:48. > :01:55.Thrones continues today. Four pretenders, but the Queen's crown

:01:56. > :01:59.can rest on just one man's head. So, today, will stay on course and

:02:00. > :02:02.left that famous trophy? It is not the semifinals we would have

:02:03. > :02:06.predicted at the start of the Championships but they are two

:02:07. > :02:09.interesting matchups just the same, some very big serving expected.

:02:10. > :02:13.Everyone here is arriving looking forward to another enjoyable day at

:02:14. > :02:18.the Aegon Championships, even though the weather has turned a little

:02:19. > :02:22.cooler. But we have a lot to look forward to. I say some big serving

:02:23. > :02:27.expected because three of the semifinalists, Cilic, Muller and

:02:28. > :02:31.Lopez have yet to have their serves broken this week, in the first match

:02:32. > :02:35.Cilic has more big match experience than his opponent but Muller is

:02:36. > :02:39.playing the best tennis of his career, his confidence high. In the

:02:40. > :02:43.second semifinal both players will be match fit because Dimitrov came

:02:44. > :02:48.from a break of serve down yesterday afternoon and Feliciano Lopez save a

:02:49. > :02:52.match point victory over Tomas Berdych. Those matches we are

:02:53. > :02:57.looking forward to and to and John and Andrew are with me. Two former

:02:58. > :03:01.champions here but the two players Muller and Lopez are the players in

:03:02. > :03:04.form on the service aren't they? Yes, obviously the semifinals we

:03:05. > :03:09.have is not what we expected but the one thing we can certainly say is we

:03:10. > :03:13.have four superb grass court players are here and the four players left

:03:14. > :03:19.our experts on this surface and we have seen some wonderful tennis from

:03:20. > :03:24.them already. Muller has been superb, he has managed his game so

:03:25. > :03:27.well and improved so much, won two tournaments and books world class on

:03:28. > :03:33.this surface. Feliciano Lopez, he was born to play on grass and his

:03:34. > :03:38.match against Berdych, just came through, he is a threat to anybody,

:03:39. > :03:42.here, Wimbledon, anywhere on grass and it is two tough matches today.

:03:43. > :03:52.Lopez, finalist in stud gut and Muller winning or so, they come in

:03:53. > :03:55.already two winning on this surface -- Stuttgart. They start in

:03:56. > :03:58.Australia early in the season and they go indoors and there is always

:03:59. > :04:01.a couple of matches where there is a transition phase and they go on to

:04:02. > :04:04.the clay and then from the clay onto the grass so the first couple of

:04:05. > :04:08.matches of those transition tournaments command this is one of

:04:09. > :04:11.them, you feel like the big players are slightly more vulnerable than

:04:12. > :04:20.they would be when they have their feet slightly more under them. These

:04:21. > :04:23.guys, all of them came in ready to play and winning is a habit, playing

:04:24. > :04:25.becomes an instinct on the big points. Particularly with Muller I

:04:26. > :04:28.have noticed it here. 34 years of age, he won his first two

:04:29. > :04:32.tournaments this year, won last week with his two sons at his side and he

:04:33. > :04:36.has everything to play for. The way he has played the big points so far

:04:37. > :04:39.this week it's like it's natural, he's just selecting whatever shot he

:04:40. > :04:43.wants to play and he is picking the right shot to play so there is

:04:44. > :04:48.belief for you. We have two great semifinals despite the fact we have

:04:49. > :04:52.not got Andy Murray. I know. You mention the Muller's little boys and

:04:53. > :04:55.they watched him in Sydney as well. He said they are so into tennis now

:04:56. > :05:00.that when he won last week they sat and watched the final, his wife had

:05:01. > :05:07.to watch it and the kids wanted to go and play tennis, this is tennis

:05:08. > :05:10.all day long, she is getting tennised out. You would never think

:05:11. > :05:13.at the start of your career that you would have your kids watching you

:05:14. > :05:16.but these guys are getting older. The average age of these guys is

:05:17. > :05:21.getting on, Dimitrov is the Young-gwon and he's my favourite. He

:05:22. > :05:24.is the favourite as well. Cilic is the highest ranked player and has

:05:25. > :05:28.looked so good, hasn't faced a break point this week. He is

:05:29. > :05:32.extraordinary, serving has been so good. I have noticed this week how

:05:33. > :05:37.much closer to the baseline he is standing in a lot of the rallies.

:05:38. > :05:40.Sometimes he is pushed back but it's almost like right on the baseline

:05:41. > :05:44.and sometimes edging inside and taking the ball on early, cutting

:05:45. > :05:49.off the angle and not giving his opponents time to breathe. He has

:05:50. > :05:53.been coming in a lot this week, is that because of his coach Jonas

:05:54. > :05:57.Bjorkman, I'm sure he has had an input. I've been impressed with his

:05:58. > :06:02.play. He said he has changed his training, he feels fitter and is

:06:03. > :06:08.more confident with his body. I was behind him the other day, not that I

:06:09. > :06:12.was stalking him, I was behind him and he was massive and blocking out

:06:13. > :06:16.the sun and looks like a feed, up top he looks like he has extra

:06:17. > :06:21.muscle and the way he took his backhand was a bit more open faced

:06:22. > :06:24.than I remember and his service is different. He's never been a man who

:06:25. > :06:28.is afraid to make one or two adjustments and with Jonas Bjorkman

:06:29. > :06:32.on board I think it is a wonderful pairing and he won a slam before.

:06:33. > :06:36.Did I say two days ago I didn't see him as a potential Wimbledon

:06:37. > :06:42.Championships Mac nonsense! In the other semifinal please two know each

:06:43. > :06:46.other. They have met a number of times and back in 2014 this was when

:06:47. > :06:50.Dimitrov got his revenge because Lopez had beaten him a couple of

:06:51. > :07:00.years before that. But this was the match point. Lopez had had a match

:07:01. > :07:03.point in this match himself. This is a player who every time he plays

:07:04. > :07:07.here because he was given a wildcard all those years ago, and it's an

:07:08. > :07:10.old-fashioned arena and the crowd know what they are looking at Andy

:07:11. > :07:14.Love is grass court sun represents tremendous tradition here, he loves

:07:15. > :07:18.it here and is not afraid to say so right away as soon as he arrives. He

:07:19. > :07:22.says, I love it, and from the word go he's been striking the ball

:07:23. > :07:27.superbly. That relationship happens to be over, he has another glamorous

:07:28. > :07:35.one on the go at the moment. He has that sort of star status. I like

:07:36. > :07:38.watching him play for that. He brings something to the court that

:07:39. > :07:42.you cannot take your eyes off and yesterday when he was a break down

:07:43. > :07:45.in the third set he had to fight against Medvedev and you never would

:07:46. > :07:50.have thought that because Medvedev had a bad shoulder at the beginning.

:07:51. > :07:53.I love it when Dimitrov is forced to dig deep but he will have to today

:07:54. > :07:56.if Lopez is walking all right because that was a big match

:07:57. > :08:00.yesterday. It was a big match and a long match and he had to save break

:08:01. > :08:05.point but eventually got to match point and I think we can see at the

:08:06. > :08:09.end of this, he is exhausted, we will stay on these pictures because

:08:10. > :08:15.there is no big celebration, just getting it over with, it is a long

:08:16. > :08:21.match. I have to say he is in amazing physical shape and he works

:08:22. > :08:27.very hard, you can see he looks exhausted but he will be ready to go

:08:28. > :08:31.today. His game is so fluid on grass, his serve is so magnificent.

:08:32. > :08:37.He is economical the way he plays, he knows what he must do and does so

:08:38. > :08:39.well. I don't think tiredness will effect from today, semifinal of

:08:40. > :08:44.Queen's, big tournament and he will be ready today. He does look

:08:45. > :08:48.exhausted because he got to the final last week. It's been a lot of

:08:49. > :08:53.matches. I believe he had three 3-set win is there before losing to

:08:54. > :08:57.Lucas Pouille who is another one to watch out for although he's not here

:08:58. > :09:01.this week, excellent French player, 15 in the world. Whether Lopez is in

:09:02. > :09:05.perfect physical shape today I have my doubts about that but we will

:09:06. > :09:08.see. You know how to manage your body and mind when you've been on

:09:09. > :09:12.the tour that long and there is another one, 35 years of age, wants

:09:13. > :09:19.to be here and wants to play everyday and I have huge respect for

:09:20. > :09:22.Feliciano Lopez who is playing the best tennis his career. Absolutely,

:09:23. > :09:25.he is and he will get lots of cheap points on his big serve, won't he?

:09:26. > :09:29.Monster serve. Moving away from Queen's Club, the big news yesterday

:09:30. > :09:32.was the British number three Dan Evans failed a drugs test having

:09:33. > :09:35.tested positive for cocaine in April. He said in a press conference

:09:36. > :09:39.yesterday I made a mistake and I must face up to it. It's really

:09:40. > :09:43.important that you know that this was taken out of competition and in

:09:44. > :09:48.a context completely unrelated to tennis. I've let a lot of people

:09:49. > :09:52.down, my family, my coach, my team, sponsors, British tennis and my

:09:53. > :09:55.fans. We have also had a response from the Lawn Tennis Association

:09:56. > :09:59.performance director Simon Timson who said we are very disappointed at

:10:00. > :10:03.the news that Dan Evans has tested positive for a recreational

:10:04. > :10:06.substance. We absolutely condemn any form of drug-taking and will support

:10:07. > :10:10.the process which needs to take place. We are in touch with Dan and

:10:11. > :10:13.will offer appropriate guidance, support and education to him on how

:10:14. > :10:18.best to address the issues that he now faces. Shocking news, Andrew.

:10:19. > :10:26.Disappointing news, and a huge mistake. We are a couple of miles

:10:27. > :10:29.away from the Grenfell Tower which was a tragedy. This is not a tragedy

:10:30. > :10:32.in that sense, this is a personal tragedy, and he's let himself down,

:10:33. > :10:35.it is a mistake. There will be no shortage of people who will condemn

:10:36. > :10:39.him totally for this. The bottom line is he has thrown away his

:10:40. > :10:42.career which is a great sadness because he went from somebody who

:10:43. > :10:45.always had talent who couldn't find the performances, to somebody who

:10:46. > :10:53.was actually pretty dedicated and had gone up to 50 in the world and

:10:54. > :10:56.was beginning to produce his best tennis, these were his best earning

:10:57. > :10:58.years, when he was creating his reputation, which will take him

:10:59. > :11:01.throughout the rest of his life and he has shattered all of that. I hope

:11:02. > :11:04.we can all understand that whilst we condemn and say he has acted

:11:05. > :11:08.foolishly and stupidly and he is an idiot, all of these things, I hope

:11:09. > :11:15.we give him a chance after he has served this ban. A chance to come

:11:16. > :11:18.back. Matas be honest, this drug is extremely prevalent, I don't

:11:19. > :11:22.consider it as performance-enhancing drug in a tennis sense, I like the

:11:23. > :11:25.way he apologised, he came out and make no excuses. I don't have any

:11:26. > :11:29.reason to doubt that he was genuine and sincere in what he said. Whether

:11:30. > :11:33.he will want to come back and play tennis, or whether he will be able

:11:34. > :11:38.to after what will probably be a two-year ban and this could be the

:11:39. > :11:42.end of his career. I still like him and I still think he did a pretty

:11:43. > :11:45.good job to get to where he did in a world, part of the winning Davis Cup

:11:46. > :11:50.team and I wish him well. I will condemn him and say he is silly but

:11:51. > :11:55.I hope he is OK for the next year or two. A Davis Cup star you must take

:11:56. > :11:58.responsibility, you are a role and must set an example. Absolutely, and

:11:59. > :12:01.he is going to get banned and torn apart in the press, which is already

:12:02. > :12:05.happening and he must take that on his shoulders and it's going to be a

:12:06. > :12:09.hard time for him. In theory they are saying he could be banned for

:12:10. > :12:23.four years under ITF rules but the tennis Andy guidelines is possible

:12:24. > :12:28.-- but under other guidelines it could be two years. They could be 15

:12:29. > :12:30.months or 18 months. If that's the case he might still have a chance.

:12:31. > :12:35.If it is two years upwards his career is over. To be honest I'm not

:12:36. > :12:38.so concerned about that. He has made huge mistakes in that area, he's had

:12:39. > :12:44.plenty of chances in many other ways. You keep thinking, why won't

:12:45. > :12:50.you learn? Now he's taken the ultimate with the drugs and been

:12:51. > :12:53.found. I'm concerned about him health-wise, all of the other side,

:12:54. > :12:58.tennis, OK, this is his career but it's what he does off the court that

:12:59. > :13:01.I'm concerned about and he needs guidance in that area. It's his

:13:02. > :13:05.health and the rest of his life that is of most concern to me because he

:13:06. > :13:11.has to be careful. We have seen in the past that he does have this

:13:12. > :13:16.tendency to go off and do other stuff. He's got to be careful.

:13:17. > :13:19.Particularly after his run at the Australian Open and playing so well,

:13:20. > :13:24.getting big sponsorship, this will be a big blow, sponsors will go

:13:25. > :13:28.away, time off, how do you motivate yourself and keep fit and healthy

:13:29. > :13:32.and come back strong after a year or so? I have no idea whether he will

:13:33. > :13:35.have any desire to do that and to climb the rankings again, to try and

:13:36. > :13:39.put together his reputation as well as his game. John may have a good

:13:40. > :13:43.point about his long-term health because cocaine is not good for you,

:13:44. > :13:48.and the fact you are in a position to have access to it and be stupid

:13:49. > :13:53.enough to take it, for all these reasons, health comes first. There

:13:54. > :13:58.were three tournaments he played in April? Monte Carlo, he was tested in

:13:59. > :14:04.Barcelona. He has made a mistake. A lot of people do a lot of days. That

:14:05. > :14:11.drug is way too prevalent in society generally. This guy is a pretty

:14:12. > :14:18.lively character. Like a moth to the flame he's been drawn. His health

:14:19. > :14:20.and secondly we will see about his tennis but his reputation is

:14:21. > :14:28.shattered and that's difficult to put together again. Think about

:14:29. > :14:31.travelling the world playing tennis, it's gone. You don't appreciate it

:14:32. > :14:35.until it's gone sometimes. With a bit of luck he will stick around and

:14:36. > :14:38.we will give him a chance to come back and we will welcome him back

:14:39. > :14:42.into the fold once again but for the moment it's over. Hopefully, a

:14:43. > :14:45.lesson learned. Back to the Aegon Championships and before we look

:14:46. > :14:48.ahead to the two semi-finals let's look back with John Inverdale

:14:49. > :15:04.because it's been quite an eventful week, one shot after another.

:15:05. > :15:09.If you're dazed an confused by the line-up for today's semi-finals,

:15:10. > :15:22.rest assured, it's not just the heat.

:15:23. > :15:26.Rafa and DelPo were no-shows. On Monday, the very first day, Kyrgios

:15:27. > :15:31.not quite famous enough yet to be known just by his Christian name,

:15:32. > :15:36.was down and ultimately out. So that was the end of the Australian

:15:37. > :15:41.challenge. But Andy, the world number one, our world number one,

:15:42. > :15:46.was playing an Aussie ranked 90 in the world. A landslide victory was a

:15:47. > :15:51.certainty, but like other landslide certainties... And he does it with

:15:52. > :15:57.an ace. What a win for Jordan Thompson. But what a shock. One of

:15:58. > :16:01.the greatest upsets that Queen's has seen, the man that's ruled this

:16:02. > :16:04.place so many times, five times a champion, the world number one, the

:16:05. > :16:09.Wimbledon champion, the Olympic champion and he's gone at the hands

:16:10. > :16:18.of Jordan Thompson, the lucky loser, the world number 90. Last year's

:16:19. > :16:24.finalist, Raonic, teetering on the almost nearly famous enough to be

:16:25. > :16:30.called Milos did this. Back and winning again at the highest level.

:16:31. > :16:36.And Stan, exhausted from his exertions in Paris, we've all felt

:16:37. > :16:41.like that sometimes Stan, succumbed to a Queen's veteran. That was all

:16:42. > :16:47.on Tuesday. Then on Wednesday, big Joe was cut down to size. Maybe it's

:16:48. > :16:52.just the transition to grass but even so, since then, some semblance

:16:53. > :16:57.of normality's been restored. Two former champions have made it

:16:58. > :17:03.through. If at the start of the week you put money on Muller, Cilic,

:17:04. > :17:07.Dimitrov and Lopez being in the semis, you musts be be holding a

:17:08. > :17:10.betting slip that predicted Brexit, Trump, a hung Parliament and a Led

:17:11. > :17:16.Zeppelin reunion at Glastonbury tonight!

:17:17. > :17:21.The bad news is... You are right, no Led Zeppelin

:17:22. > :17:26.playing at Glastonbury tonight! But the good news is that we have Muller

:17:27. > :17:28.taking on Cilic here and a few moments ago the players made their

:17:29. > :17:37.way on to court and they are being led on to court by two very lucky

:17:38. > :17:42.youngsters, Lucas Hill and Sam Sharlon, both being treated at the

:17:43. > :17:50.Mars ten Centre in Sutton and they are representing the charity today.

:17:51. > :17:56.Lucas, whoa is with Marin Cilic was diagnosed with stage four

:17:57. > :17:59.neuroblastoma in 2014 and he's received chemotherapy radiotherapy

:18:00. > :18:05.and other therapies. Sam in Woking in Surrey was five when diagnosed

:18:06. > :18:10.with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in December 2013. So they've made

:18:11. > :18:14.their way on to the court and it looks like they're very happy to

:18:15. > :18:19.stay there actually. Go on, are you going to take the towel? No. What a

:18:20. > :18:24.lovely moment from them. A couple of lovely proud mums in the audience

:18:25. > :18:33.watching on as well. But that was just a few moments ago. No, he

:18:34. > :18:37.doesn't want to move, look. The players get ready for the coin toss

:18:38. > :18:41.now and let's hear from the man in form at the moment, the highest seed

:18:42. > :18:50.left in the Championships, Marin Cilic.

:18:51. > :18:54.This is my opponent's favourite surface and his most favourite time

:18:55. > :18:59.of the year. He played well last year. He came through the semis,

:19:00. > :19:04.always extremely dangerous with his serve. I don't think many things are

:19:05. > :19:09.going to divide us tomorrow so I'm just hoping to keep my cool and

:19:10. > :19:14.continue to serve and play well. 17 career titles, one of those came on

:19:15. > :19:17.grass here in 2012. The finals the following year. What would it mean

:19:18. > :19:25.to you to be back in the final here on Sunday? It would mean a lot in

:19:26. > :19:29.terms of confidence and in terms of also dealing with that match win in

:19:30. > :19:35.preparation for Wimbledon and also confirming that my form is extremely

:19:36. > :19:39.high and that I'm read dito do big things. We did that lovely build-up,

:19:40. > :19:43.we saw the lovely walk-on, the players have made their way on and

:19:44. > :19:46.then, after a wonderful week of weather, we have our first rain of

:19:47. > :19:50.the hundredship. So finally, the ground staff are making their way

:19:51. > :19:55.on. We haven't seen them all week. They have just been mowing the lawn

:19:56. > :19:59.and how disappointing for the all the mans, they have had a lovely

:20:00. > :20:04.lunch, just come in to watch some tennis and away they go again. Won't

:20:05. > :20:08.be gone for too long judging by the pace at which they're all going

:20:09. > :20:12.about their business, just a gentle jog. They haven't been doing

:20:13. > :20:16.anything all week, they've forgotten how to do it. They seem to be calm

:20:17. > :20:22.about the way they're going about it. There's Graham. And the courts

:20:23. > :20:26.are magnificent. Graham and the team do the most incredible job. Well

:20:27. > :20:32.done! They've been the stars of the show so far. But they really have,

:20:33. > :20:36.these courts are absolutely perfect and Graham's made that decision, he

:20:37. > :20:39.never likes to cover the courts unless he has to, unless he thinks

:20:40. > :20:43.it's going to blow over quickly so this isn't a great sight. Within

:20:44. > :20:46.they get a bit of water on the surface, they want the breeze just

:20:47. > :20:50.to go across to take that away before they put the cover on, that

:20:51. > :20:55.way it's a bit quicker until we can play again, but just a judgment call

:20:56. > :21:00.from him. Doesn't feel like it's going to be more than maybe 15 or 20

:21:01. > :21:03.minutes. He prepares a very different court than the courts

:21:04. > :21:08.prepared by Neil and the team at Wimbledon. There's more tennis over

:21:09. > :21:11.a longer period of time there. So they have to prepare a slightly

:21:12. > :21:17.different court in terms of how much play it's going to get on it. This

:21:18. > :21:21.one they go for it, it's perhaps more of a Formula One court, you

:21:22. > :21:27.only need to get seven days play out of it! Wimbledon is 13 days play

:21:28. > :21:32.with the rest day for it to recover. Wimbledon had to change the grass or

:21:33. > :21:38.the technique lches Look what we've learnt over the years. People say I

:21:39. > :21:42.thought the grass was fine, just mow it and there are so many different

:21:43. > :21:45.styles. This week it's been eventful. We have seen to many

:21:46. > :21:50.shots. We always thought that after the French, having that extra week

:21:51. > :21:53.going in, would sort of, this wouldn't happen. That's what I

:21:54. > :21:57.thought. I thought the extra week - I've said it before - I said we are

:21:58. > :22:01.going to get less and less shots on the grass because the top mayors

:22:02. > :22:05.who've had the extra week which we have cried out for for so many years

:22:06. > :22:09.is the most ridiculous part of the tennis calendar to have the Grand

:22:10. > :22:14.Slam two weeks apart, one from clay going on to grass. I still think

:22:15. > :22:19.that's the toughest challenge in tennis for men or women to win the

:22:20. > :22:23.French Open on clay, completely different surface. Two weeks later

:22:24. > :22:28.in the old days, then having to win on grass. Then it was tough but at

:22:29. > :22:34.least now there's an extra week but it's not enough. How nice that, with

:22:35. > :22:47.the greatest of respect to Raonic and Wawrinka who we see week in week

:22:48. > :22:54.out, how nice to see Medvedev. A young player. Couldn't read his

:22:55. > :22:58.emotions yesterday but his tennis spoke quickly for him. On the grass

:22:59. > :23:03.it's so nice to see the youngsters coming through. Old Dennis will be

:23:04. > :23:07.around for a while. He is one seriously exciting player. I don't

:23:08. > :23:11.mind upsets. This is not a bad semi-final line-up. The cream has

:23:12. > :23:15.risen at the top, the grass court talent out there is undeniable but

:23:16. > :23:19.it's great to see so many great players. Murray went out in the

:23:20. > :23:23.first round, Jordan Thompson not a great result but he tweeted a

:23:24. > :23:31.picture today with all his Olympic medals. He is surrounded by all of

:23:32. > :23:33.Sofia's toys with a big smile on his face. Good, I haven't seen that one

:23:34. > :23:46.yet. Here it is, look. There you go, an upsetting build-up!

:23:47. > :23:53.Life seems wonderful. Delighted for him. You have to take the losses,

:23:54. > :23:57.you move on and go away, he said he's going to play a couple of

:23:58. > :24:01.exhibition matches next week and, you know, it's not a competition but

:24:02. > :24:05.it's still a match situation and hopefully he'll be hitting the

:24:06. > :24:10.forehand a little better than he did in his first round here. He's been

:24:11. > :24:17.doing a lot of drills with Ivan Lendl. I said the other day, I saw

:24:18. > :24:24.them taking two boxes to Lendl's house. Forehands and serve all day

:24:25. > :24:30.long until he gets his game. He got to the finals one year when he lost

:24:31. > :24:34.early on. He's a pro, a hard pronow, he knows how to play. I hope he

:24:35. > :24:38.doesn't get to play one of these youngsters that we have seen in the

:24:39. > :24:42.first couple of rounds at Wimbledon because it could be dangerous. If he

:24:43. > :24:49.gets a decent draw and works his way through a couple of rounds, after

:24:50. > :24:53.that he'll be fine. Also, when you look at the dangerous floaters that

:24:54. > :24:56.there are in the draw, you have mentioned the youngsters ranked

:24:57. > :25:04.outside the top 50, Tommy Haas as well. 39 years of age. He beat

:25:05. > :25:09.Federer. I didn't realise. Federer wins the Australian Open after not

:25:10. > :25:13.playing for six months then Tommy beating Roger was phenomenal. So it

:25:14. > :25:18.feels wide-open at the moment but it wouldn't surprise me at all if

:25:19. > :25:21.Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray get through to the semi-finals because,

:25:22. > :25:24.you know what, in the big tournaments, the big guys come

:25:25. > :25:30.through so much of the time. To be honest, what I really want to see,

:25:31. > :25:33.Andy doing well, but I just want to see Federer playing together again.

:25:34. > :25:36.He's putting together a sporting story this year which is beyond

:25:37. > :25:42.belief. As well as winning the Australian, the first of the slams,

:25:43. > :25:45.Nadal wins, two oldies, he also won Indian Wells in Miami. It's

:25:46. > :25:49.extraordinary. Those are the two biggest ones at the start of the

:25:50. > :25:52.year, then he says he's not going to play on clay at all. Talk about

:25:53. > :25:56.managing your schedule. This is a man not worried about his ranking,

:25:57. > :25:59.he wants to win the big event and still has appetite for it. To see

:26:00. > :26:03.Roger play for me is still a thrill. The way he played in Australia, he

:26:04. > :26:07.was attacking more, that's what you need to do on a grass court. He

:26:08. > :26:12.wants to keep the points shorter and be more aggressive. To me, the

:26:13. > :26:17.Australian Open, it was a joke how good he was. For me the best shot

:26:18. > :26:21.was the back hand. His high back hand. I've never seen him hit that

:26:22. > :26:26.that way. Nadal was getting that ball up high and in the old days,

:26:27. > :26:29.he'd struggle on that shot. He was hitting clean winners off the line

:26:30. > :26:33.off ridiculous shots. You look at that and think, wow he's got that

:26:34. > :26:39.shot as well. Federer's always said, there is not a day goes by where I

:26:40. > :26:43.think I can learn still from the game. That is what you love about

:26:44. > :26:46.it. You think he's perfect, he doesn't think so and that drives him

:26:47. > :26:51.to keep playing. He loves the game. I spoke to him last week and he

:26:52. > :26:57.said, I don't fear losing, I just love winning. You have spoken to

:26:58. > :27:05.everybody! Genuinely that is a good job, I hope you like it. I

:27:06. > :27:12.thoroughly appreciate it. Billie Jean King, John McEnRoy Virginia

:27:13. > :27:16.Wade, Andy at Wimbledon. If you see Rod play, it was just before

:27:17. > :27:24.television got going that he was around, he was unbelievable. You

:27:25. > :27:30.might have played him yourself... He was number one or two in world, I

:27:31. > :27:34.played him in a tournament in America, those days there wasn't

:27:35. > :27:39.much prize money around, I needed the money. I tripped down the stairs

:27:40. > :27:42.an hour before I played him and my ankle was blown up and I had to get

:27:43. > :27:47.an extra pair of shoes, a larger pair, to get my sock on. I went up

:27:48. > :27:53.to Rod and said, look, I need this money and I can't walk. He said, can

:27:54. > :27:58.you be nice to me in the first round. I was talking to the best. He

:27:59. > :28:02.said, don't worry, leave it to me. It was 6-3, 6-3, the crowd didn't

:28:03. > :28:11.know and I picked up my money. He's a gentleman. Who else would do that.

:28:12. > :28:16.You lost some though. Oh, yes, he's not that nice! The good news outside

:28:17. > :28:19.the window, a large round of applause because the ground staff

:28:20. > :28:24.have made their way back, meaning the covers are coming off. Still a

:28:25. > :28:28.few dark clouds around and a strong breeze blowing as well, so blowing

:28:29. > :28:32.the clouds away and hopefully we'll have much better weather to bring

:28:33. > :28:39.you in the two semi-finals today. Off they go. Great ground staff here

:28:40. > :28:44.and they'll have this court up and running very soon indeed. We await

:28:45. > :28:48.the players on court. We'll be back for that live. We are just going to

:28:49. > :29:00.briefly look back to last night and a match that finished almost in

:29:01. > :30:10.darkness here between Tomas Berdych and Feliciano Lopez.

:30:11. > :30:16.Masters soothsayer you made me, but alas you haven't been paying

:30:17. > :30:43.attention. Anything else you want to say?

:30:44. > :30:54.Berdych is two points from the match, from his first semifinal at

:30:55. > :31:00.Queen's. But Feliciano wants to be there too. He did get to the final

:31:01. > :31:29.here three years ago, the Spaniard. What a fantastic return of serve,

:31:30. > :31:36.the slider was bearing right in at his body and he somehow managed to

:31:37. > :31:40.get his forehand on the ball. That was almost out of self-preservation.

:31:41. > :31:46.Brilliant athleticism, it really was. Heaven knows what kind of spin

:31:47. > :32:00.was on that ball when it hit Lopez's racket.

:32:01. > :32:17.He went for it, he got it. And after two and a quarter hours Tomas

:32:18. > :32:25.Berdych has match point. For a place in the last four at Queen's and a

:32:26. > :32:27.semifinal against Grigor Dimitrov. He must just stand in the tramlines

:32:28. > :32:48.and take the slider away. What a shot. By the skin of the skin

:32:49. > :32:56.of his teeth Lopez got to that somehow. What a superb second serve

:32:57. > :33:16.it was from Lopez. How Berdych got it back I've no idea. Too good.

:33:17. > :33:33.He might have been worried fractionally as Berdych was hurtling

:33:34. > :33:36.towards the ball but he couldn't quite get there. Server chance of

:33:37. > :34:07.5-5. That is a magnificent shot from

:34:08. > :34:12.Lopez. So much bite. The crowd, who have enjoyed this, have suddenly

:34:13. > :34:19.sprung to life. As dusk descends at Queen's.

:34:20. > :34:28.Once again Lopez just feathers it over the net catching Berdych

:34:29. > :34:38.unawares. The way he shapes up to hit it it looks as if he's going to

:34:39. > :34:48.hit it deep. That was a steely look from Lopez. That is the kind of look

:34:49. > :34:50.at Andy Murray gives his box at times, you are not helping at all

:34:51. > :34:56.and I'm doing this all by myself. Surely you jest.

:34:57. > :35:33.Well, break here? Suddenly the energy that had

:35:34. > :35:39.deserted Lopez is suddenly coursing through his veins again. At 1-1, 2-2

:35:40. > :35:42.maybe you are thinking I need to conserve energy to get over the

:35:43. > :35:45.finish line and now he knows he can cross the line on fumes. It is

:35:46. > :36:13.everything to the fore. Suddenly, the first double fault of

:36:14. > :37:29.the match from Tomas Berdych. Lopez decided it was now or never.

:37:30. > :37:41.Took the initiative, chip and charge. For the first time in the

:37:42. > :37:57.match. Here he goes, look. He knows. Two break points on the Berdych

:37:58. > :38:03.serve from nowhere. Carmen down. -- calm down. One person not getting it

:38:04. > :38:05.cited in all of this is -- getting excited in all of this is Tomas

:38:06. > :38:12.Berdych. Will he do the same this time? Where

:38:13. > :38:37.will Berdych serve? He went for it. The arm was out

:38:38. > :38:43.instantly from the line judge. Berdych saying it's out. Lopez is

:38:44. > :38:50.challenging the call and his arms are out saying, how did I miss that,

:38:51. > :38:54.to himself. Wasn't the easiest passing shot in the world. If you

:38:55. > :38:59.are going to call it out, call it out. It's in any way!

:39:00. > :39:13.CHEERING Out of the blue. Feliciano Lopez has

:39:14. > :39:26.a break that nobody saw coming, least of all that man. And there is

:39:27. > :39:35.a real buzz around Centre Court now. Yes, and this match has turned on

:39:36. > :39:50.its head from a somewhat predictable serve holding... Fest. Yes. We've

:39:51. > :39:55.had two one half hours and most of the official floodlights have come

:39:56. > :39:59.on. We did say two and a half hours ago this would be close and it might

:40:00. > :40:03.go to three sets and it might be three very close sets and that is

:40:04. > :40:15.exactly how things have panned out. 6-7, 7-6. And now the match is in

:40:16. > :40:25.Feliciano Lopez's pounds. 18 aces so far in the match, six in this set,

:40:26. > :40:40.four in the last game. Four more here will do nicely.

:40:41. > :41:10.The photographer's lens eye on Lopez.

:41:11. > :41:22.It is a roar from Lopez but this time it's a positive a roar after

:41:23. > :41:26.the way he has been berating himself in this contest. That was a sort of

:41:27. > :41:35.forced unforced error from Berdych and the Spaniard is two points from

:41:36. > :41:41.victory now. But that most definitely was an unforced error. He

:41:42. > :41:47.would love just to creep over the line. He doesn't want to have to do

:41:48. > :41:57.it with ground strokes. Two first serves, por favor.

:41:58. > :42:11.That's the first one. Muchas gracias. Feliciano Lopez with two

:42:12. > :42:13.opportunities now to beat Tomas Berdych here in the quarterfinals at

:42:14. > :42:20.Queen's and make it through to a semifinal tomorrow. We have a

:42:21. > :42:31.sparrow. Is it a sparrow? Was that a sparrow? I'm told it was bigger than

:42:32. > :42:36.a sparrow. Match point. UMPIRE: Game, set and match, Lopez. He's

:42:37. > :42:42.done it. It seemed that the match was ebbing away from the Spaniard.

:42:43. > :42:48.Somehow in the space of two or three points the match changed direction

:42:49. > :42:58.180 degrees. The 35-year-old Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who has

:42:59. > :43:00.got a great smile and he is smiling now.

:43:01. > :43:06.STUDIO: Great match, so competitive, the crowd loved it, I don't think

:43:07. > :43:11.they would have made the tie-break if it had gone on, it was so dark.

:43:12. > :43:16.Lopez guts sing it out, managing to change the game from 5-5. He's been

:43:17. > :43:26.winning recently, he loves this service and he comes here, comes out

:43:27. > :43:31.here and glides around the court and his serve and his touch, the match

:43:32. > :43:35.point, how did he get that backhand? That ridiculous shot. He is classy

:43:36. > :43:39.on this service and way better on this surface and his ranking,

:43:40. > :43:43.always. And about ten spots minimum to his ranking when he comes on this

:43:44. > :43:47.surface, he is so good. He will be on later on against Grigor Dimitrov

:43:48. > :43:51.but I'm pleased to say they are back on court, it's Marin Cilic up

:43:52. > :43:56.against Gilles Muller. Let's talk about Cilic. We talked about how he

:43:57. > :43:59.keeps improving and looks to be playing his best tennis. He got the

:44:00. > :44:05.big serve, of course. But he does back it up as well. He's still

:44:06. > :44:08.learning about his game forced up when I was speaking to Bob Brett

:44:09. > :44:14.four or five years ago. The years roll by. He was with Bob after Marin

:44:15. > :44:19.had made it into the top ten for the first time and I remember him saying

:44:20. > :44:22.he is quite a sensitive soul and started listening to people too much

:44:23. > :44:26.when he got into the top ten, you've got to change this, do that, but of

:44:27. > :44:30.course you should continue to do, you can add things you might need to

:44:31. > :44:34.do which are little but keep doing what you're doing and don't change a

:44:35. > :44:37.winning game plan, tinkered with one or two shots and lost confidence and

:44:38. > :44:41.went back down the rankings again. You get the feeling this time he's

:44:42. > :44:47.is therefore good. And he is looking to push on from here. There is no

:44:48. > :44:51.reason to think that he has not got three, four, five more years at the

:44:52. > :44:54.highest level. As I said before with Jonas Bjorkman on board and knowing

:44:55. > :44:58.your game and becoming an adult and growing up, you get to understand

:44:59. > :45:02.how to get the best performance out of yourself week in and week out.

:45:03. > :45:10.He's interesting. His game has changed. If you look at pictures of

:45:11. > :45:13.him ten, 12 years ago, or more, his style is different now. The ball

:45:14. > :45:15.toss is in the same place the whole time which makes it more difficult

:45:16. > :45:18.for someone to read, he doesn't throw it over his head all the time,

:45:19. > :45:21.it is a quicker arc through the ball, a number of things he does

:45:22. > :45:25.extremely well now and he's improved since he won the US Open. Looking

:45:26. > :45:29.back at him throughout this week he's got such power. He has not

:45:30. > :45:37.faced a break point yet. Witty, keep talking about the serve, big heavy

:45:38. > :45:41.game. -- we keep talking about. Very heavy and he's always looking to

:45:42. > :45:47.attack, further in the baseline than he used to be. There is that Agassi

:45:48. > :45:52.position. There it is again, and the forehand is awesome. And how quick

:45:53. > :45:56.he is moving in. Hard to read on his shots. He can go both ways no

:45:57. > :46:00.problems on the forehand. I like his stance with where he is, moved back

:46:01. > :46:03.here, didn't have much choice on that one, but generally speaking

:46:04. > :46:06.he's right on top of the baseline taking the ball early and putting

:46:07. > :46:10.pressure on his opponent the whole time. He doesn't take it early

:46:11. > :46:14.compared to Jonas Bjorkman, his coach. Are a half-volley your serve

:46:15. > :46:18.and follow it in, you would look up and he would be smiling at you

:46:19. > :46:23.volley and when you were up one foot and a half of the baseline. What a

:46:24. > :46:27.story this is, he had an won Eto'o title until this year in Sydney and

:46:28. > :46:32.then last week and here he is in the semifinals. -- tour title. He said

:46:33. > :46:37.he reached the semis in 2004 but it's taken this long. He had a bad

:46:38. > :46:39.injury about five years ago and took a long time off and said he got

:46:40. > :46:44.himself really physically fit and now he trusts his body.

:46:45. > :46:53.You mentioned his two victories this year, one of them was in Sydney

:46:54. > :46:56.where he beat Dan Evans. It was his seventh, ATP final and, you know,

:46:57. > :47:00.you can get a little bit funny about that and start thinking it's never

:47:01. > :47:04.going to two your way and suddenly the clouds part. You don't know what

:47:05. > :47:08.you've got. Dan is going to find this out now, you don't know what

:47:09. > :47:13.it's got until it's gone. When you have an injury and you sit out, you

:47:14. > :47:17.realise how much you love the game. Delgado deserves a great deal of

:47:18. > :47:20.credit for getting to understand that and for adding to his game.

:47:21. > :47:23.Andrew you are going to have to make a move because he's sitting down and

:47:24. > :47:32.you are going to be picking up from me in about a minutes' time. This

:47:33. > :47:35.match-up, the big serves, you are going to see some long sets

:47:36. > :47:39.tie-breaks heading our way do you think? You would have thought so.

:47:40. > :47:43.Can't imagine there not being at least one tie-breaker here. Muller,

:47:44. > :47:48.the way he's managed his serves, it will be interesting to see how Cilic

:47:49. > :47:52.tries to anticipate, read it. Very difficult to read. He throws the

:47:53. > :47:56.ball in the same place, he can hit that swerver out wide. He can go

:47:57. > :48:01.into the body, down the middle, he can kick it. He has such variation.

:48:02. > :48:05.Interesting to see what Cilic does when he returns the ball. He has to

:48:06. > :48:12.do something because when Muller gets in a rhythm, he's brutal. He

:48:13. > :48:13.certainly is. Let's find out if an true's made it alongside Peter

:48:14. > :48:31.Fleming. No problem, Sue! Ready for the semi-final after a

:48:32. > :49:20.slight delay from rain which we hope will not return.

:49:21. > :50:11.That had to be a bit of a bad bounce.

:50:12. > :50:28.Clearly feeling very, very good on serve. In his first two rounds, he

:50:29. > :50:31.was unbelievable. Points won. Look at the accuracy. Not too many false

:50:32. > :50:52.serves. A good mix. Can y a time when they

:50:53. > :52:43.dropped serve. It's extraordinary. No.

:52:44. > :53:08.Forehand shot best do you think? Forehand, yes.

:53:09. > :53:19.Unable to recover Marin Cilic. A bit of rain before this match, a few

:53:20. > :53:25.minutes delay. Gave us a chance to watch sombre ditch v Lopez -- some B

:53:26. > :53:45.erdychv Lopez. Marin Cilic has a busy day. On

:53:46. > :54:18.schedule today for Murray and Soares.

:54:19. > :54:23.He's playing with clarity. Interesting whether you ask if his

:54:24. > :54:30.forehand is the best shot. I thought the back hand was the best a couple

:54:31. > :54:42.of years ago. He always has asserted that he prefers to hit forehand.

:54:43. > :54:46.Over the last year or two, his forehand's become a lot more

:54:47. > :55:22.consistent and it's now a very reliable weapon.

:55:23. > :55:33.Wonderful tennis Marin Cilic is playing. I really can see the way

:55:34. > :55:37.he's approaching this. You can see the poise coming forward, it's a low

:55:38. > :55:46.position, the willingness to attack, to be quick with the feet. This is

:55:47. > :55:52.everything that Bjorkman was. Seems very settled in that relationship.

:55:53. > :55:58.If you want to get in touch with us, you can do and we'll get to them

:55:59. > :56:25.later in the programme. He must know he is on. The camera

:56:26. > :57:13.was right in front of him. It's like an R2-D2 that camera.

:57:14. > :57:16.Muller tosses the ball to the left and looks like he'll slice every

:57:17. > :58:32.ball. Very neatly done. So little drama on

:58:33. > :58:37.these shots now. Not much to go wrong: Yes. He's become a lot more

:58:38. > :58:41.aware of when an opportunity might arise. There was no risks taken at

:58:42. > :59:47.all. Played very well across all surfaces

:59:48. > :59:53.this year. One of only two players able to reach ATP Tour finals this

:59:54. > :00:00.season on hard courts, on clay and on grass as well.

:00:01. > :00:08.Lucas Pouille also achieved that feat, he was a finalist in Estoril

:00:09. > :00:13.as well which surprised some people. His ground strokes very good and his

:00:14. > :00:26.serve works on every surface, naturally.

:00:27. > :00:54.First serve points won 7/7 bombers Cilic and for Merlo two

:00:55. > :01:02.seven out of seven. Interesting hearing you talk about Cilic in the

:01:03. > :01:09.old days, I never understood why he tossed the ball so far behind his

:01:10. > :01:19.head, six with that sort of leverage, you've got to hit some big

:01:20. > :01:21.serves and try and winsome points on serve, Goran Ivanisevic try to get

:01:22. > :01:31.that into his point and five months later he won the US Open. He has a

:01:32. > :01:42.fast racket head now, the ball gets up there and he hits it. Nobody

:01:43. > :02:13.threw it up and hit it any quicker than Goran Ivanisevic.

:02:14. > :02:23.Good to see him winning some doubles as well. Matkowski against Jamie

:02:24. > :02:29.Murray and Bruno Soares later on. Teaming for the first time. Often

:02:30. > :02:32.when players changed to a new surface, especially grass after

:02:33. > :02:38.playing almost a third of the season or a quarter of the season on clay.

:02:39. > :02:42.They like to get some matches on the surface and field the ball off the

:02:43. > :02:47.surface, particularly on the return, feel the ball coming onto the racket

:02:48. > :02:55.and how it is reacting to vigorous. Absolutely. It's a great plan. --

:02:56. > :03:02.reacting to the grass. I was amazed to hear you didn't win this

:03:03. > :03:07.competition with your doubles. It is higher bouncing, this Court,

:03:08. > :03:15.generally harder surface. Higher bouncing and faster. Or at least it

:03:16. > :03:24.was. The Centre Court is quite slow, it's not such a quick court. That

:03:25. > :03:30.suited my game better. I think the groundsman keeps the moisture

:03:31. > :03:34.content a little higher earlier in the tournament than Mr Kynton has to

:03:35. > :03:40.on this surface, seven days play on this surface. I think it has

:03:41. > :04:31.something to do with the undersoil. I feel it is just a bit harder here.

:04:32. > :04:38.Areas that willingness to come forward. -- there is that

:04:39. > :04:58.willingness to come forward. There it is, that's the ball toss

:04:59. > :05:06.well out of the left and yet still able to pump it flat out wide into

:05:07. > :05:07.the corner, and as a return you are moving the other way because you

:05:08. > :05:17.expect the slice. UMPIRE: Mr Muller is challenging the

:05:18. > :06:13.call. The ball was called out. There was good power on the serve

:06:14. > :06:17.that it wasn't directed quite well enough, went right into the hitting

:06:18. > :06:49.zone of Cilic and he returned it nicely, almost to the baseline.

:06:50. > :06:56.It just shows how confident Muller is, break point down and he thumped

:06:57. > :07:38.that. Cilic achieves what nobody else has

:07:39. > :07:48.done this week, breaking the Gilles Muller serve, clean pass. Explosive

:07:49. > :07:51.backhand down the line, Muller coming in, albeit on his weaker

:07:52. > :07:58.side. He doesn't miss too many backhands. Exactly. It appeared as

:07:59. > :08:03.though Muller wasn't expecting it dumb at a crosscourt passing shot

:08:04. > :09:06.because he wasn't covering the down the line one at all.

:09:07. > :10:02.He is sharp, right on top of that ball. Could be the final.

:10:03. > :10:14.Still only lost the one point on serve, second serve. Impressive

:10:15. > :10:20.tennis indeed. Second semifinal, Lopez versus Dimitrov, interesting

:10:21. > :10:25.to see how Dimitrov gets the ball past Lopez when he comes into the

:10:26. > :10:31.net, which he will surely do on the backhand slice. Let's look at who is

:10:32. > :10:40.in and around today. Hopefully we can recognise one or two people. Not

:10:41. > :10:43.quite the weather we had at the start of the week but that is a

:10:44. > :10:57.blessing relief, it was well over 100 inside this poll. It was really

:10:58. > :11:07.hot. Cilic, of the one point that he lost it was a double fault so he

:11:08. > :11:12.hasn't actually lost a point. It is this low movement, look how low he

:11:13. > :11:17.is getting, this is the essence of grass court tennis, for a guy who is

:11:18. > :11:24.six feet five inches, to move in like this, rapid face coming back

:11:25. > :11:29.and then coming through again, the minor adjustments he has never been

:11:30. > :11:33.afraid to make. At six he gets around the court so well. -- six

:11:34. > :11:53.foot and six inches. It is unlucky on the net cord.

:11:54. > :13:35.Taking it out wide on the angle. I'm really impressed with how

:13:36. > :13:42.aggressive Cilic has been on his forehand this week. He clearly has a

:13:43. > :15:11.lot of belief in that shot now. Hasn't quite settled in. Under

:15:12. > :15:56.pressure though, it must be said. You have to defend such width at the

:15:57. > :16:04.baseline with the Muller serve. He can drag you out wide to the left.

:16:05. > :16:33.Yet still going down the middle on this side.

:16:34. > :16:48.Had time to lean into that one. Hits that slice with a bit more power

:16:49. > :17:46.than he ordinarily would. Remember the lovely match Andy

:17:47. > :17:48.Murray put on with Boris Johnson for charity.

:17:49. > :19:30.Perfectly placed serve on the sideline. The bounce on the line

:19:31. > :19:49.really threw Mull Muller off. We talk about positive self-talk.

:19:50. > :19:53.Down in this game but not a moment's negativity. 5-3 and two set points

:19:54. > :20:10.to Cilic. One is all he needs. Excellent set

:20:11. > :20:14.of serving. In fact, a top all round set, 17 first serve points, one out

:20:15. > :20:17.of 17. In fact he only lost two points on serve at all. Wonderful

:20:18. > :20:31.stuff. Very much in control. Players at the

:20:32. > :20:35.Aegon Championships hoping to peak for Wimbledon. The all England Lawn

:20:36. > :20:36.Tennis Club must be sure everything is perfect for the opening day.

:20:37. > :21:14.They've been hard at work all year. Everything looking pristine and

:21:15. > :21:18.perfect. They control everything at the All England Club except the

:21:19. > :21:22.weather. Hopefully we'll have two wonderful weeks. Tennis for

:21:23. > :21:29.Wimbledon qualifying coming up next week live from Roehampton. That

:21:30. > :21:36.starts on Monday. You can watch that on the red button or on the website.

:21:37. > :21:44.Next week, we'll be down on the south coast, live coverage of the

:21:45. > :21:46.Aegon International. Eight of the world's top ten in action there in

:21:47. > :21:59.the women's game. The planting down there this year

:22:00. > :22:03.which I love every year, Martin Faulkner is in charge of it, the

:22:04. > :22:09.planting is sensational. It looks beautiful. I wish I knew the name of

:22:10. > :22:20.all of these. Monty Don would know, but I don't! They look more pretty.

:22:21. > :22:24.They varnished all the wood and they made sure there were no signs of

:22:25. > :22:28.anything that would ruin the look. There was one bloke in charge of

:22:29. > :22:33.vanishing all the bannisters and jutt side wood work and he was

:22:34. > :22:47.cursing saying, why didn't they make it out of metal.

:22:48. > :23:43.Second set. First set to Cilic. Three six.

:23:44. > :24:35.Oh. A total mis-hit. Drops rite on the line.

:24:36. > :24:43.More often than not, the longer the rally goes, the more it faves Cilic

:24:44. > :24:50.because, of course, he's a quicker guy around the baseline. -- favours

:24:51. > :26:06.Cilic. The greater the chance that he will outmanoeuvre.

:26:07. > :26:16.Federer beat his opponent to make the final again.

:26:17. > :26:21.Would you say that makes him the favourite to win at Wimbledon? I

:26:22. > :26:26.don't think you can bet against Federer winning. Yes. I think if

:26:27. > :26:33.he'd have lost early, then that adds a bit of doubt to it but now that

:26:34. > :26:57.he's won four matches, you have to think, all right, he's back in gear.

:26:58. > :27:17.Zverev is very good, keep an eye out for him. His younger brother too.

:27:18. > :27:23.Zverev Number Ten in the world on the rankings which take results from

:27:24. > :27:37.the last 12 months, but starting January 1 in the race, he's number

:27:38. > :27:39.five. Ahead of both Djokovic And Muller so he's having an incredible

:27:40. > :28:21.year. Muller wasn't sure whether to play

:28:22. > :29:14.this ball or leave it to go over the baseline.

:29:15. > :29:42.Leaned on the return well. Of course, the wrong footing ground

:29:43. > :29:44.stroke always effective on this surface. It's so easy to change

:29:45. > :30:52.directions. We almost saw something we have not

:30:53. > :30:56.seen in the tournament which was a dumb Cilic break point down, 30-30

:30:57. > :31:03.is pretty much as close as anybody gets. Yet to face a break point in

:31:04. > :31:11.this tournament. He is locked in, he is going for the lines, he is on top

:31:12. > :31:59.of the ball. UMPIRE: Fault. He is reacting quickly to everything.

:32:00. > :32:07.Cilic has come ready to play. Quarterfinalist at the recent French

:32:08. > :32:10.Open on the clay. That concludes his set of at least quarterfinals in all

:32:11. > :32:17.of the Grand Slam Championships. Record be proud of. Another

:32:18. > :33:15.milestone reached in 400 career wins this year.

:33:16. > :33:22.The penultimate forehand from Cilic was really clever. He put a lot of

:33:23. > :33:51.top-spin on it, gave himself time to recover his position.

:33:52. > :34:06.He's got a look about him, there is some menace about his tennis.

:34:07. > :34:19.Well served. The most underutilised serve in tennis. Left-hander coming

:34:20. > :34:39.into the right here. That is long. If there is one reason

:34:40. > :34:44.why Cilic has not won Wimbledon before, has not been more dominant

:34:45. > :34:46.on grass it's that. He just doesn't put quite as many returns interplay

:34:47. > :36:21.has the very best. He's making all sorts of noises,

:36:22. > :36:25.grunting, very focused. That serve was maybe three inches from the

:36:26. > :36:44.centreline and it have to be that good, or Cilic was on it.

:36:45. > :36:48.That is the way you charge on a sitting volley, don't let it drop in

:36:49. > :37:05.the least. I swear there was a court around

:37:06. > :37:19.here with some seeds on it! The game continues, what a tough

:37:20. > :37:30.little mini contest within a contest this is. Cilic refusing to open the

:37:31. > :37:34.door on his own serve, the pressure is really on a server on the grass

:37:35. > :37:39.court, inside the baseline with his left foot, simple rotation, Cilic's

:37:40. > :37:50.game looks pristine at the moment. There is a little bit of rain

:37:51. > :37:55.around. I don't know whether it is just in the hair floating about,

:37:56. > :38:00.there seems to be a bit of murmuring in the crowd, people reaching for

:38:01. > :38:07.jackets and suchlike. I think he quite liked that other

:38:08. > :38:34.pigeon. That is a tremendous game. Superb.

:38:35. > :38:38.The concentration was there and the serving was at the end as well.

:38:39. > :38:44.Lovely half-volley in there. Halfway through the game, old-fashioned

:38:45. > :38:51.skill. What is it like to break the Muller serve, to receive this serve?

:38:52. > :38:56.It's fantastic out wide, down the middle on the teak. It is this

:38:57. > :39:00.variation that you have to prepare yourself for, you can be dragged way

:39:01. > :39:10.out wide or cover the one down the middle. -- down the middle on the T.

:39:11. > :39:15.Let's demonstrate that now. This is on the left-hand side, taking it out

:39:16. > :39:19.wide, this is a standard ball from Muller on the left-hand side. The

:39:20. > :39:22.ball on the left-hand side, as it crosses the baseline, in other words

:39:23. > :39:26.where you are receiving it, you don't want to give away space and

:39:27. > :39:30.stop it before it gets too far away from you, you've got to cover the

:39:31. > :39:33.one on the left with the slice and with exactly the same ball toss he

:39:34. > :39:37.can go straight down the middle. I don't know what that distances

:39:38. > :39:42.between the ball on the left and the one on the right, the wide and flat

:39:43. > :39:45.one but it is a fair distance and requires anticipation. Rather like a

:39:46. > :39:51.well taken penalty in football, nothing you can do if he's going to

:39:52. > :39:55.serve well. In fact, those two serves were conservative and placed.

:39:56. > :39:58.Muller would hope to get the serve up the middle much closer to the

:39:59. > :40:04.centreline and that makes it obviously much tougher to return it

:40:05. > :40:08.and one out wide again, if that is on the line it is unreturnable. When

:40:09. > :40:13.you were playing with John McEnroe in the singles and doubles this was

:40:14. > :40:17.a great left-handed serve, the greatest of all time. Did you tell

:40:18. > :40:21.him, or request where he was going to serve? Did he tell you when you

:40:22. > :40:29.were playing doubles? How did you direct fire? You mean when we played

:40:30. > :40:34.together? Yes. Very rarely, only on a huge point would he say, OK, I'm

:40:35. > :40:42.going here. Usually it would just be he is going to serve, I am going to

:40:43. > :40:45.react, and vice versa. So you never requested that he serve into the

:40:46. > :40:51.body or anything like that? Did he use that body serve? Yes, he had a

:40:52. > :40:57.great body serve. Yes because he had six and a half foot tall you at the

:40:58. > :41:04.next to clean up. Yes but it was more the other way around, to be

:41:05. > :41:10.honest. His serve, he got into the net so quickly behind it and he

:41:11. > :41:17.varied it well. He didn't really have a kick-serve but he would hit

:41:18. > :41:21.the slice and body serve is really effectively. I know you played him

:41:22. > :41:25.in singles a lot. Was that the best delivery you have played against?

:41:26. > :41:37.How fast was Roscoe Tabac in the day? His serve was much quicker. He

:41:38. > :41:46.was 135-140 tops. The greatness of his serve was in its placement. He

:41:47. > :41:49.could put it on a dime. Just waiting for the wind to pick up the moisture

:41:50. > :41:55.off the top of the service they're service. This is why the players are

:41:56. > :42:01.not going back to the locker room which is just under the stairs, up

:42:02. > :42:06.the external stairs and then the internal stairs. I don't think we

:42:07. > :42:13.will be off for long. Just a little pulse of light rain getting onto the

:42:14. > :42:21.court surface, which is right Dan Maguire grass is played on very

:42:22. > :42:25.rarely. -- which is why grass. It doesn't make a lot of economic sense

:42:26. > :42:30.to play on grass courts. Back in the old days I remember playing a match

:42:31. > :42:39.in the national and meta- grass courts in Southampton. Southampton,

:42:40. > :42:47.America? And it was a drizzle throughout the match. Much harder

:42:48. > :42:51.rain than this. A two-hour match played throughout like that. It was

:42:52. > :42:56.really slippery and you would just sliding around. There were no grass

:42:57. > :43:02.court shoes with studs on in those days. It's when men were men. It's

:43:03. > :43:09.interesting how the game has changed the more professional it has become.

:43:10. > :43:13.The players have basically said, I'm not doing that, I am not playing in

:43:14. > :43:20.those conditions anymore. Ireland a tournament pre-Wimbledon in Reading,

:43:21. > :43:27.when Nastase played in pouring rain, it was on TV in those days. They

:43:28. > :43:31.said we want to come said they must play on. And he said give me your

:43:32. > :43:40.umbrella, play with one hand holding the umbrella. I think they got their

:43:41. > :43:44.point across. If you don't have grass court shoes, you could always

:43:45. > :43:48.have one of these guys dragging him brush along but quite rare. Put

:43:49. > :43:53.socks over the shoes, that works. You need very large shop dark socks

:43:54. > :44:07.to get over your shoes, but you never know. -- very large socks. He

:44:08. > :44:14.has ordinary grass court shoes on, Marin Cilic. They are quite heavily

:44:15. > :44:17.regulated, the studs on the bottom, these pimples. You cannot have them

:44:18. > :44:24.wrapping around the edges and up the shoe because that damages the court

:44:25. > :44:33.to match. There were two years when Bjorn Borg had those shoes and no

:44:34. > :44:37.one else did. No! Yes, and he used to walk on court with normal tennis

:44:38. > :44:42.shoes on and he would have the grass court shoes in his bag and when he

:44:43. > :44:48.got out on court he would change his shoes. Really? That is gaining an

:44:49. > :44:57.unfair advantage. The pimples on a table tennis bat. Yes. Said he

:44:58. > :45:04.gained that advantage? They would work superbly on a clay-court.

:45:05. > :45:12.Except some players prefer to slide and therefore it's sort of defeats

:45:13. > :45:18.that purpose. Lars Graff is the supervisor this week, Dave Kimpton

:45:19. > :45:22.on the right, in charge of the courts.

:45:23. > :45:33.Get in touch, #BBC tennis. That's the way to get in contact with us. I

:45:34. > :45:39.will get to those, I promise. When I am sent them I will definitely have

:45:40. > :45:47.a look. No hard questions, though. Interesting to see the blank look on

:45:48. > :45:52.Gilles Muller's face. Just that exhausted... Just spaced out look.

:45:53. > :45:55.It was a great hold after seven or eight minutes on the service game.

:45:56. > :46:02.When the rain comes down is the last time you want to lose your serve.

:46:03. > :46:06.ANNOUNCER: There is slight moisture and rain in the air and we are going

:46:07. > :46:10.to hold the players for a few more minutes until it is safe for them to

:46:11. > :46:30.resume play. Thank you for your patience.

:46:31. > :46:38.Of course, a five-ten minute delay is not much of a problem. But if the

:46:39. > :46:42.players have to go off for half an hour or so, then it becomes a little

:46:43. > :46:59.more problematic. Just approaching ten minutes since

:47:00. > :47:02.the last point. Training has changed.

:47:03. > :47:11.Such a lot in the last few years or so, players do an awful lot more

:47:12. > :47:15.weightlifting and hammer stretching than they ever used to, particularly

:47:16. > :47:33.hitting the weights though these days.

:47:34. > :47:47.Dimitrov and Lopez next up for us on this court. Cilic is out there and

:47:48. > :47:54.ready to play. With this breeze and even the sun is attempting to peer

:47:55. > :50:10.through any surface water will evaporate quickly.

:50:11. > :50:17.That is only the fifth point that Cilic has dropped on serve.

:50:18. > :50:22.Including two double faults. On the other hand, Muller has lost 19 on

:50:23. > :50:29.his serve. You would have thought that this would be a rout, wouldn't

:50:30. > :50:31.you. All you're doing is looking at stats. The scoreline still a bit

:50:32. > :50:45.tight. That is a much easier game on the

:50:46. > :52:59.last one. Muller 3-2. Very pleased that rain delay wasn't

:53:00. > :53:03.too long. We still have play here at the Queen's Club. But there are

:53:04. > :53:07.tournaments happening elsewhere, including the ladies, the WTA event

:53:08. > :53:18.up in Edgbaston. Two results to bring you from there. Kvitova is

:53:19. > :53:23.continuing her impressive form. Safarova was forced to retire

:53:24. > :53:26.because of a leg injury. Everyone saying Kvitova looked very, very

:53:27. > :53:38.strong from the first set of that match. And Muguruza has gone out,

:53:39. > :53:43.beaten lie Barty. Barty was the Wimbledon junior champion in 2011.

:53:44. > :53:47.She walked away from the game in 2014, went to play cricket for

:53:48. > :53:54.Brisbane in the Big Bash league and returned to tennis last year and is

:53:55. > :53:59.now racing up the rankings. A big scalp at the Aegon classic this

:54:00. > :54:05.week. Eastbourne next week. Live coverage there from Monday. Back we

:54:06. > :54:09.go to the first semi-final. Barty tremendous athlete. Great hand-eye

:54:10. > :54:59.coordination. Always loves the grass court. So good for her.

:55:00. > :55:10.Total mis-hit from Cilic. Managed to propel the ball forwards. Look at

:55:11. > :55:15.this one. It's a virtuoso point from Muller right up until the last

:55:16. > :55:44.passing shot which sailed low. This remarkable run continues on

:55:45. > :56:03.first serve. 23 points played and 23 won.

:56:04. > :56:18.Loss of concentration, nothing more here. Tried to make a perfect drop

:56:19. > :56:22.volley when actually anything inside the surface line probably would have

:56:23. > :57:18.done. An hour and eight minutes to lose a point.

:57:19. > :57:29.We were talking about great service a moment ago. We are watching two

:57:30. > :57:34.fine serves here. One viewer says, how fast did Borg serve. He played

:57:35. > :57:42.long before radar guns were popular. I would have thought his serve was

:57:43. > :57:50.somewhere 125-130. But he had a great first serve, he could place it

:57:51. > :57:56.on a dime, much like McEnroe's. He won a lot of points behind his free

:57:57. > :58:06.serve. That was the difference, you know. One year. In that year, in

:58:07. > :58:17.1976, he said something just fell into place and in Paris he always

:58:18. > :58:19.just rolled it in. And suddenly he came to Wimbledon and he had a huge

:58:20. > :58:35.first serve. Once again from the end that Muller

:58:36. > :58:38.is serving now there's pressure on his serve. Served break points the

:58:39. > :59:48.last time he was down there. Well played. The ball hit the

:59:49. > :59:51.baseline and stopped dead. Cilic's forehand on the play. No arguing

:59:52. > :01:29.with that one. Just right on it, Muller doesn't hit

:01:30. > :01:43.the serve in the corner he is in trouble. Just long. UMPIRE: Mr Cilic

:01:44. > :01:48.is challenging the call on the left side baseline. The ball was called

:01:49. > :01:49.out. Five break points in the second set, Cilic is trying to put this to

:01:50. > :02:29.bed and get to the final. Advantage Muller, Mr Cilic has two

:02:30. > :02:33.challenges remaining. That is a difficult return, taking

:02:34. > :03:50.the sliding serve in your body, to try and push it back down the line.

:03:51. > :03:54.Another tough hold from Gilles Muller who is hanging in to save

:03:55. > :04:04.this second set. 4-3 up. STUDIO: We will be right back with

:04:05. > :04:09.the semifinal on the Centre Court at the egg on Championships, still the

:04:10. > :04:12.second semifinal players waiting in the clubhouse, Grigor Dimitrov,

:04:13. > :04:16.champion here in 2014, up against the man he beat in that final,

:04:17. > :04:23.Feliciano Lopez. La Paz had a match point when they played in 2014 so

:04:24. > :04:26.that could be close. -- La Paz. Wait on this court, Jamie Murray and his

:04:27. > :04:32.partner Bruno Soares who won the Australian Open doubles title last

:04:33. > :04:36.year in action and we will bring you that, if we can bring, exquisite

:04:37. > :04:43.into the coverage on BBC One because of the red -- rain, it will be on

:04:44. > :04:47.the red button. Loss of tennis still to come.

:04:48. > :04:51.COMMENTATOR: Absolutely, we had some rain earlier ten minutes into the

:04:52. > :04:58.match, a couple of minutes delay, or a few minutes delay, before they got

:04:59. > :05:02.under way, so a couple of rain delays. Harry Long says I wish there

:05:03. > :05:07.had been some rain when I was at Queen's on Sunday, still nursing the

:05:08. > :05:14.sunburn. Harry, silly, should have put something on. Thomas Scullion,

:05:15. > :05:22.maybe miserable this afternoon, every other sport continues in the

:05:23. > :05:31.rain, so continue. -- Harry Colleen -- Thomas Colin.

:05:32. > :05:37.11 o'clock, red button on Monday for Wimbledon qualifying, men's and

:05:38. > :05:42.women's, for the first time televised. Join us next week. Jon

:05:43. > :05:48.Voight and Mary Pierce join the force and commentary down there. --

:05:49. > :06:02.John Lloyd. It's been a long time since Mary

:06:03. > :07:52.Pierce saw a qualifying event. Grand Slam champion.

:07:53. > :08:44.That was a half-hearted attempt at tapas. -- at Web Pass -- at Dave

:08:45. > :08:53.half-hearted attempt at a pass. Still, doing a wonderful job of

:08:54. > :09:00.taking Muller's time away from him, standing on the baseline to return

:09:01. > :09:32.and following any return into the net.

:09:33. > :09:38.The frustration will build for Cilic. He's had so many

:09:39. > :09:42.opportunities in this set. Muller has found his way through his

:09:43. > :09:46.service games to survive. He has broken once but had eight

:09:47. > :09:53.opportunities to break, eight break points throughout the match, Cilic.

:09:54. > :09:59.He is just beginning to shake his head a little. This is the way

:10:00. > :10:03.scoring is in tennis. You can have the upper hand, you can be playing

:10:04. > :10:06.the better tennis but you can be ambushed. It looks like we might be

:10:07. > :10:31.heading for a tie-break. A quick result from Ilkley and the

:10:32. > :10:35.challenge of being played up there. Jade Clarke from Derby who had a

:10:36. > :10:37.great week winning his first two matches in Challenger play has lost

:10:38. > :10:45.in the quarterfinals but he is one to watch, J Clarke. Such a good

:10:46. > :10:53.opportunity this time of the year to play in front of home crowds. Take

:10:54. > :10:59.some opportunities to get some computer points. Nothing like

:11:00. > :11:06.playing at home. The US Open was your home tournament, wasn't it? It

:11:07. > :11:14.was, yes. Not 1 million miles away from here, where you? Still not. The

:11:15. > :11:22.US Open never really felt like a home tournament, though. Actually

:11:23. > :11:24.there was another one in Orange that was just around the corner from my

:11:25. > :11:36.house and that was fun. The clay-court season finished in a

:11:37. > :11:39.flourish for Rafa Nadal for supper can't wait to see him play. I hope

:11:40. > :11:46.his knees hold up for the whole thing. How can you win ten French

:11:47. > :11:51.opens? One of the great sporting achievements, la decima, as they

:11:52. > :11:54.called it. He didn't lose a set in winning the French Open, not even

:11:55. > :12:00.sure he got taken past four games in a set. Didn't play Wimbledon last

:12:01. > :12:05.year and lost to Dustin Brown the year before. Nadal back at Wimbledon

:12:06. > :12:31.fit and well. Muller, I am sure, just feels it's

:12:32. > :12:35.an achievement to put the return back into play and get in a rally

:12:36. > :12:42.but he needs to do even more than that. He needs to take a few more

:12:43. > :13:11.risks to see if he can force Cilic to defend.

:13:12. > :13:14.That time Muller flat-out guessed that the serve would go out wide and

:13:15. > :13:44.guessed wrong, as it happened. This is the end that Muller has

:13:45. > :14:20.struggled with his serve. Did you see where Cilic was to

:14:21. > :14:31.receive that? Virtually in the front row.

:14:32. > :14:38.Nice job of putting pace on the return. Forcing Muller to try and

:14:39. > :15:25.fend off an awkward bounce. That is the wide serve on the

:15:26. > :16:26.sideline. And it's strictly unplayable.

:16:27. > :16:36.So the least he'll get from this set is a tie-breaker.

:16:37. > :16:43.We have another left-right contest coming up. Lopez, three times

:16:44. > :16:48.quarter-finalist at Wimbledon against grippingor Dimitrov. That

:16:49. > :16:55.will be a highlight -- Grigor Dimitrov.

:16:56. > :17:03.We have just been talking about Nadal, talking about great

:17:04. > :17:13.left-handers, his last four Wimbledons, his losses have come to

:17:14. > :17:21.Kyrgios, Darcey and Brown included in those four. It's really odd that

:17:22. > :17:28.he should have such deep dips considering he's won the tournament

:17:29. > :17:36.twice, right. But he did go through a patch there when his confidence

:17:37. > :18:19.was pretty fragile. That no longer appears to be the case.

:18:20. > :18:27.A helicopter overhead. Cilic taking us into a tie-break in the second

:18:28. > :18:54.set. That's a rare lead in a Cilic game.

:18:55. > :20:34.Something for Muller to work with. Wow, what a surprise! Well taken,

:20:35. > :20:40.Muller. There's the opportunity presenting itself and he was ready.

:20:41. > :21:48.That's the first time that Marin Cilic has lost his serve during the

:21:49. > :21:58.course of this tournament. Well done Muller. In some ways against play.

:21:59. > :22:02.We are going to distance here. Where did that come from, Cilic losing his

:22:03. > :22:06.serve. It's game on here. Plenty of tennis still to come today and over

:22:07. > :22:09.the next few weeks as we build up to the finals of Wimbledon. But there's

:22:10. > :22:22.plenty of sport on the BBC right the way through the summer as well.

:22:23. > :23:19.That all looks good. Wonderful. Some of the numbers then from this

:23:20. > :23:36.semi-final. Muller putting together an

:23:37. > :24:44.inspirational game. Back in the old days if it wasn't

:24:45. > :24:50.Borg, you would say, I can't lose to this guy. Why can't people play that

:24:51. > :24:56.is the of tennis now? Well, the players return serve so much better

:24:57. > :25:03.now and hit passing shots. So much more powerfully and accurately. And

:25:04. > :25:16.conversely, because the players never serve and volley they're not

:25:17. > :25:25.very good at it any more. Good response Marin Cilic.

:25:26. > :25:41.He played David Nalbandian. He was disqualified.

:25:42. > :27:02.Oh, terrific defending from Muller. We have not seen this sort of

:27:03. > :27:08.all-court play from him ever. A career high at the age of 34, it's

:27:09. > :27:29.pretty unusual. The trend continues. Three have gone

:27:30. > :28:18.begging here in the third. That 's the first time all week we

:28:19. > :28:20.have seen Cilic shout out in anger. Often exhorted himself to come on

:28:21. > :29:31.after he's hit a good shot. That is a line ball. Having lost his

:29:32. > :29:39.serve and having had 40-0 in this game, this ricin tension is more

:29:40. > :29:46.evident than it has been, as Peter has been saying. Button well played,

:29:47. > :30:11.she'll Mola. Tremendous defence. This successful brand may continue,

:30:12. > :30:14.winning last week in Hertogenbosch, in the Netherlands on a grass court.

:30:15. > :30:35., he had his sons there with him. He is the best player ever from

:30:36. > :30:38.Luxembourg, that's for sure. Finished last year at number 34, a

:30:39. > :30:46.career high, and immediately won in Sydney and now that victory in

:30:47. > :30:47.Holland, great successful Muller, playing with confidence. How old are

:30:48. > :31:44.his sons? Seven and five. He is on a roll now. If Cilic isn't

:31:45. > :31:45.careful this match could get away from him. Who would have thought

:31:46. > :33:00.that an hour ago. ? Talk about a guy that's been around,

:33:01. > :33:07.she'll Mola has been injured a bit, but he was a finalist in Washington

:33:08. > :33:14.in 2004, 13 years ago. It took him a long time to get his first

:33:15. > :33:21.tournament victory this year in Sydney. He defeated Agassi that week

:33:22. > :33:24.and lost to Hewitt. Absolutely a different generation. Mr Cilic is

:33:25. > :33:37.challenging the call on the service line, the ball was called in.

:33:38. > :33:41.The call was in on the serve. 15-0. The call stands. 15-0. Mr Cilic has

:33:42. > :34:34.two challenges remaining. Let's Seve that well timed return

:34:35. > :34:46.gets Cilic going once again. -- see if that well timed return.

:34:47. > :34:51.There is nothing more than moralising than playing against a

:34:52. > :34:59.guy who is serving bombs at you, placing them in the corners, you

:35:00. > :35:07.have a chance to put the Paul -- ball back into play. Cilic tasting a

:35:08. > :35:24.bit of his own medicine. What a strange old start to the week

:35:25. > :35:28.we had here, with Andy Murray going out early against Jordan Thompson.

:35:29. > :35:33.Jordan Thompson got into the draw having lost in qualifying because

:35:34. > :35:37.somebody pulled out so he was the highest ranked guy in the qualifying

:35:38. > :35:41.at the time who hadn't got in so in he goes, beats Andy Murray, Jordan

:35:42. > :35:45.Thompson plays a good match against Sam Querrey but loses, Sam Querrey

:35:46. > :35:50.loses to Muller, this is the Murray section, the top half of the draw.

:35:51. > :35:57.Also going out, Nick Kyrgios hurt his hip, I saw him here with Jack

:35:58. > :36:03.Sock, the American number one. Hopefully Nick Kyrgios will be fine.

:36:04. > :36:11.Who else went out? The wildcard Australian Kokkinakis but to

:36:12. > :36:13.Medvedev and Ben Dimitrov. Stan Wawrinka, that is more

:36:14. > :36:19.understandable, the loss to Feliciano Lopez in round one -- and

:36:20. > :36:30.then Dimitrov. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost as well do she'll Mola. -- lost

:36:31. > :36:36.to Gilles Muller. Pretty good quarterfinal line-up now. They're

:36:37. > :36:43.all guys playing well on grass courts. Cilic and Muller were both

:36:44. > :36:48.in last week's finals. Muller women in Holland as you noted, Cilic

:36:49. > :39:19.losing in the finals in Stuttgart. He will change his racket for the

:39:20. > :39:26.new tennis balls. It is getting overcast at Queen's Club. A couple

:39:27. > :39:31.of rain delays but these yellow balls of bright. This is a darker

:39:32. > :39:34.day than we have enjoyed this week. Should be OK from here. The wind

:39:35. > :39:43.whipping in from the West which is to the left as we looked down the

:39:44. > :39:47.court behind Muller. Muller's serve will be even more venomous from this

:39:48. > :40:04.end. Cilic caught out sprinting to the

:40:05. > :41:34.open court. Didn't even have to put much pace on that at all.

:41:35. > :41:42.It is a quiet -ish bar area for the members at Queen's today. Two more

:41:43. > :41:49.matches to come after with Lopez playing Dimitrov with Dimmock and

:41:50. > :41:52.Jamie Murray and his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares our inaction

:41:53. > :41:57.against Marin Cilic who is going to be having a very long day and Marcin

:41:58. > :42:05.Matkowski, who is a doubles specialist. He's from Poland.

:42:06. > :42:10.As well as Olympic day which Sue Barker told us about because Andy

:42:11. > :42:15.Murray tweeted a picture of himself with his medals and teddy bears and

:42:16. > :42:20.bits and bobs if you saw that. What is Olympic day? I don't know but if

:42:21. > :42:25.you've won lots of Olympic medals then you can wear them all. They

:42:26. > :42:33.cannot do it any other day? No and it is armed services day and it is

:42:34. > :42:37.centring around Liverpool. I spoke to Scotty Sears, Andy Murray's

:42:38. > :42:40.brother-in-law, raising money for the Gurkhas. He is in the Gurkhas

:42:41. > :42:45.and I want to wish him well because he is heading to the South Pole

:42:46. > :42:50.unassisted, unaided, alone in November. I spoke to him on the

:42:51. > :42:59.radio this morning. Silly boy. But he is raising money for a fantastic

:43:00. > :43:04.course. Wow. Brave, isn't it? Yes. It is 3-2 to Muller, no breaks in

:43:05. > :45:31.this third and deciding set. So Cilic hoping to bring a little

:45:32. > :45:34.energy to the proceedings, up on the baseline, drills that background,

:45:35. > :45:48.can he get a few more returns into play?

:45:49. > :45:56.Such a different concentration that is required from the surface they

:45:57. > :46:02.have been playing on recently, clay - staccato, half chances, quick

:46:03. > :46:03.pace. Absolutely, a couple of games without getting any chance at all,

:46:04. > :47:15.and you still have to be ready. That is the sort of intensity that

:47:16. > :47:24.we have seen from Cilic throughout the week.

:47:25. > :47:30.He has not been able to show it too often today, such as being the

:47:31. > :48:13.Muller service dominance. World number seven trying to press

:48:14. > :48:44.home this advantage. Just getting in Muller's face a little bit.

:48:45. > :48:59.Oh! The entire Croatian player box support close to him just about

:49:00. > :49:04.managed to find their way to their feed and then sunk back down again.

:49:05. > :49:06.Yeah, he did well to track the ball down, did not miss it by much, just

:49:07. > :49:32.a couple of inches. A mean looking player box! Break

:49:33. > :50:27.point. And this time he gains the break!

:50:28. > :50:29.And he's doing it as much by willpower as anything else, really

:50:30. > :50:36.broadcasting the message that he is ready to break. Yeah, and after

:50:37. > :50:46.winning the very first point of that game, Cilic really pumped himself

:50:47. > :50:54.up, and you know that that got into Muller's head just a little bit. The

:50:55. > :51:01.body language can play a big role in a match like this. And taken out

:51:02. > :51:05.wide and chasing down these swinging left-handed serves, he has been very

:51:06. > :51:09.effective in making a play, you mentioned it earlier, getting pace

:51:10. > :51:13.on it. No point chipping it back, you will lose, and you have to

:51:14. > :51:19.commit. I have a feeling he was cheating his way in, knowing that

:51:20. > :51:25.Muller would go to his favoured serve on such a big point. Here

:51:26. > :51:29.certainly going to be a threat, no matter what happens here at Queen's

:51:30. > :51:33.Club this week, two games away from going through to the final. He has

:51:34. > :51:39.been a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon three years in a row, last year two

:51:40. > :51:45.sets up on Federer before losing in five.

:51:46. > :51:58.The year before that, he lost to Djokovic, had a massive match with

:51:59. > :52:01.John Isner, like everybody else! The year before that, a quarterfinal

:52:02. > :53:10.loss in five sets to Novak Djokovic, so some pedigree on grass. 4-3.

:53:11. > :54:17.Have done the hard bit, making an effective return of serve.

:54:18. > :54:57.Exactly right. Didn't miss it by much - but same result.

:54:58. > :55:07.It is as though the error forced into lose the concentration, a total

:55:08. > :55:58.mis-hit. Muller just hitting his head with

:55:59. > :56:01.his racket, that 0-30 point, a painful forehand miss, fleeting

:56:02. > :56:05.chances. Whatever happens in this surface

:56:06. > :57:04.game, Cilic will serve for a place in the final.

:57:05. > :57:18.I love the way Cilic ghosts win after hitting an aggressive ground

:57:19. > :59:34.strokes. Any different in a thought process

:59:35. > :59:38.when you're serving a big game like this, or are you an automatic pilot

:59:39. > :59:42.when you've won this amount of matches? The big prize, does that

:59:43. > :59:51.make you a bit more nervous or do you follow the process? Well, both.

:59:52. > :59:55.But, yeah, sure he will be a little bit aware of what he does on this

:59:56. > :00:03.first point, get your first serve in on the first point, perhaps. Right

:00:04. > :00:08.from the word go in this tournament, the 2012 champion has been so sharp.

:00:09. > :00:11.The footwork, moving on, knocking the ball off when it's there to be

:00:12. > :00:19.knocked off, and choosing the right shot and serving it magnificently.

:00:20. > :00:23.First-round victory over John is and Stephane Kozlov, the qualifier from

:00:24. > :00:33.the United States -- John Isner. He beat Donald Young 6-4, 7-5. Now a

:00:34. > :00:40.chance for a final place. It really has been just the one game where

:00:41. > :01:16.Cilic just lost his Mojo, momentarily.

:01:17. > :01:37.Well, nice to see that the forehand error at 0-30 in the last Cilic

:01:38. > :01:49.service game hasn't put him off. Really going after that return.

:01:50. > :04:23.Oh, what a magnificent way to close it out! The second serve, that wide,

:04:24. > :04:28.103 mph. The final will feature Marin Cilic, a magnificent grass

:04:29. > :04:37.court player and with a magnificent attitude this week, popular with the

:04:38. > :04:41.crowd, of course. Finally, a smile! More than the competitive grimace

:04:42. > :04:49.which he's been wearing. A wonderful performance.

:04:50. > :04:56.Really, a super week for Marin Cilic. Former champion at Grand Slam

:04:57. > :04:59.level, and such a consistent performer on the grass courts.

:05:00. > :05:05.Gilles Muller, excellent week for him as well. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the

:05:06. > :05:13.number five seed, found him too hot to handle. And Sam Querrey lost to

:05:14. > :05:18.him 6-4, 7-6. Sam Querrey will make his way of like the court. A big

:05:19. > :05:24.contribution from the 34-year-old. -- of the court. He has had a career

:05:25. > :05:28.high up the moment, and his tennis reflected that, certainly, such is

:05:29. > :05:33.the confident in his game. But in the final analysis, just the one

:05:34. > :05:41.break of serve in the third set was enough for Cilic to go through. And

:05:42. > :05:46.then there were three. Cilic and the semifinalists coming up. They are

:05:47. > :05:50.the only three remaining. Feliciano Lopez has been playing some inspired

:05:51. > :05:54.tennis himself, against Grigor Dimitrov, always a great

:05:55. > :05:58.entertainer. Don't go anywhere, stay tuned for that. And later on, don't

:05:59. > :06:02.forget that here on BBC One or the red button and you can see Jamie

:06:03. > :06:09.Murray in action with Bruno Soares against this man, Marin Cilic, and

:06:10. > :06:13.Marcin Matkowski. So he will be back after the second semifinal. Whether

:06:14. > :06:16.he wants to be playing quite that much tennis today before a final,

:06:17. > :06:19.I'm not so sure. But I'm sure he will take to the court, so have a

:06:20. > :06:26.look at Jamie Murray later on, it's worth watching him playing doubles.

:06:27. > :06:29.Competing like I've hardly ever seen him compete, with such focus.

:06:30. > :06:36.Bjorkman deserves much credit for that. His coach. He seems to have

:06:37. > :06:41.made a big difference to his mental attitude.

:06:42. > :06:54.And there is no reaction. From the box. So there is the Wii action.

:06:55. > :06:59.Marin Cilic is talking to Katherine. Marin, many, many congratulations. A

:07:00. > :07:06.third Aegon Championships final, it is clear that means a lot to use.

:07:07. > :07:10.Definitely. It is amazing to get the final, considering that today's

:07:11. > :07:14.match was extremely high-level, I was playing good throughout all the

:07:15. > :07:20.match. Gilles was just pushing me to the limits. It wasn't easy to keep

:07:21. > :07:23.calm after all of the break points I had in the second set and then

:07:24. > :07:29.losing it, and the beginning of the tour I had 0-40. But eventually I

:07:30. > :07:33.got the break. And I really played a great match. Gilles managed to do

:07:34. > :07:37.something today which no other man has done this week, which is create

:07:38. > :07:42.a break point on your server. He only did it in one game. Do you feel

:07:43. > :07:50.like Superman when you step up to serve?! No, I don't! But this week I

:07:51. > :07:52.was feeling really good on my serve. Especially on the shots afterwards,

:07:53. > :07:56.I was playing really well. Against Gilles Muller today, I was mixing it

:07:57. > :08:02.up. I was just playing really well, really spot. And some critical

:08:03. > :08:06.points. -- really smart. Usually I would ask you what you will do to

:08:07. > :08:11.the powerful the final. But you have a doubles semifinal coming up later

:08:12. > :08:15.on today. Only one man has ever done the singles and doubles double, that

:08:16. > :08:19.was Pete Sampras in 1995. How much would you like to be the second?

:08:20. > :08:23.That would mean a lot, for sure. I don't have a title in doubles in my

:08:24. > :08:28.career, so that would be nice, absolutely. But we are playing later

:08:29. > :08:33.probably the best team, one the best teams in the world, against Suarez

:08:34. > :08:37.and Jamie Murray. It will be an interesting match. I'm going to

:08:38. > :08:41.enjoy that, and hope that we will go through. We will see you out here

:08:42. > :08:47.later, best of luck. Thank you. He has got a very busy day here at the

:08:48. > :08:49.Aegon Championships. Another superb performance and another superb

:08:50. > :08:54.serving performance from Marin Cilic. He really does look a

:08:55. > :08:59.complete player with all of the work he has done alongside Jonas

:09:00. > :09:03.Bjorkman. Certainly a man in form. Peter and John are with me. John, we

:09:04. > :09:09.have been watching that, she is so hard to beat, isn't he? He has

:09:10. > :09:13.served so well, I like the way he backs up his serve. He is very

:09:14. > :09:17.aggressive, standing close inside the baseline, he is not afraid to

:09:18. > :09:22.Bobby, his return of serve is excellent. I like his attitude, too

:09:23. > :09:26.-- he is not afraid to volley. He is this pumping every time he got a

:09:27. > :09:29.break point. It shows how much the appointment means, as well as

:09:30. > :09:36.obviously Wimbledon coming up. He is in form and he wants to win this

:09:37. > :09:39.again and he is desperate to do so. With so many of the big names going

:09:40. > :09:43.out, this is a huge opportunity to get a lot of ranking points and

:09:44. > :09:47.improve your world ranking. No question about it. A win at a 500

:09:48. > :09:52.level tournament, you know, that's a good week. But even more

:09:53. > :09:58.importantly, you know, I think Marin will be thinking, the way that he's

:09:59. > :10:03.playing right now, that his chances really do skyrocket for Wimbledon in

:10:04. > :10:07.a couple of weeks' time. He, I think, is playing as well as he's

:10:08. > :10:14.ever played. And of course he's a former US Open champion. You know,

:10:15. > :10:17.nobody's going to want to play him, nobody's going to want to see him in

:10:18. > :10:22.that quarter in a couple of weeks' time. We just picked out a couple of

:10:23. > :10:26.points. It was in that game when he actually managed to break Gilles

:10:27. > :10:30.Muller's serve. Look at this point, she just knew that this was his

:10:31. > :10:34.chance and he was going to take it. Magnificent tennis he played. He

:10:35. > :10:40.really did. How close he is, getting inside that baseline. I don't think

:10:41. > :10:44.he would have done that a few years back, he would have waited and

:10:45. > :10:49.hesitated. There's no hesitation. That return of serve is pretty

:10:50. > :10:54.awesome. That serve he has whether he does it on the first serve all

:10:55. > :10:58.the second, it is such a difficult serve because it goes up so high.

:10:59. > :11:01.That's the thing, unless you are really tall, you're going to be

:11:02. > :11:06.playing something well over your shoulders. If you are one-handed,

:11:07. > :11:10.you have got no chance on it. He varies it, he does the same ball

:11:11. > :11:14.toss when he arches his back, you think it is going to be a kick out

:11:15. > :11:19.wide and then he smashes it down the middle, a very good disguise. Such a

:11:20. > :11:24.big weapon. We saw Rafa Nadal at the Clay, he was making people play

:11:25. > :11:26.shots so high with the spin, it is difficult to get any power and

:11:27. > :11:31.strength and control when you are playing above your shoulder. He is

:11:32. > :11:37.serving very confidently. The thing that I like about Cilic, much more

:11:38. > :11:39.so now than in previous years, he is hitting his forehand really

:11:40. > :11:44.confidently. And he's hitting it hard. He is dominant with it. So he

:11:45. > :11:48.puts his first serve into play, and if you don't time the return

:11:49. > :11:54.perfectly, then he's dumping you with a forehand. And, you know, it's

:11:55. > :11:58.a rough combination -- he is something you. Cilic is through to

:11:59. > :12:04.tomorrow's final. The second semifinal will be in court in a

:12:05. > :12:09.moment. Grigor Dimitrov against Feliciano Lopez. Andy Murray went

:12:10. > :12:13.out in the opening round. He is playing two exhibition matches next

:12:14. > :12:16.week. This week no doubt he has been practising down at Wimbledon, it is

:12:17. > :12:20.almost like a home club for him. A few weeks ago I went down to visit

:12:21. > :12:30.him, and I met him in the members lounge. Hello! How are you? How's

:12:31. > :12:35.things? All right, yeah, it's nice being around this club. The waiting

:12:36. > :12:50.is over! Finals day, how nerve-racking is

:12:51. > :12:54.this walk? 24 hours before, you know, you're OK, and then as it gets

:12:55. > :12:58.to like an hour before, it gets worse. And as you start to make the

:12:59. > :13:04.walk, you think, you know, can I actually play tennis? I'm terrible!

:13:05. > :13:08.Get this over with! As soon as you are on the court, I've done that my

:13:09. > :13:12.whole life, it's OK once I'm out there, it's more the getting onto

:13:13. > :13:17.the court that the hard bit. Is it the longest walk of the Grand Slam?

:13:18. > :13:22.The US Open is very close, the French Open, but by far the longest

:13:23. > :13:27.walk. Pugh Weigl heroes when you were growing up? We would always

:13:28. > :13:30.support the British -- who will work your heroes. We watched Tim Henman

:13:31. > :13:35.four years at Wimbledon. I loved watching Andre Agassi as well, just

:13:36. > :13:39.because he was a bit different. Obviously a big personality. You

:13:40. > :13:44.know, a great shot maker. He didn't play the same way as a lot of other

:13:45. > :13:50.players did. At that time he wasn't playing serve and volley tennis. He

:13:51. > :13:57.was a bit different. Are you a regular snooker player here? I was

:13:58. > :14:01.until I lost in the semifinals at the club championships. Me and my

:14:02. > :14:04.coach, Jamie Delgado, put the snooker a way after that and I

:14:05. > :14:12.haven't played since. Whose fault was it? To be honest, we were a bit

:14:13. > :14:17.unlucky, it was one frame all, but we were terrible! We played for

:14:18. > :14:22.about four hours for three frames. We needed to pot on the last hole,

:14:23. > :14:26.to either pot the blue, the pink or the black. Jamie Potter and the blue

:14:27. > :14:34.to win the game but also went in off the pot. And then we lost. And,

:14:35. > :14:38.yeah, that's been it, we gave up. This is such a magical place. Do you

:14:39. > :14:43.have a little glance off to the right as you come down? Yes, it's a

:14:44. > :14:46.shame we don't get to keep that one! That amazing trophy, is literally

:14:47. > :14:51.never leaves their eggs at an finals day. We get a replica, probably

:14:52. > :14:56.about a third of the size of that one -- it never leaves their an

:14:57. > :15:00.finals they. They won't let me touch it! As soon as you take a photo with

:15:01. > :15:02.it, they snatch it back of you and put it back in its box and off it

:15:03. > :15:11.goes. We will hear more from Andy in the

:15:12. > :15:17.documentary on Sunday just before Wimbledon gets under way. Jamie

:15:18. > :15:29.Delgado's fold eczema I was shocked he didn't say that, because he told

:15:30. > :15:34.the story, yes, it was Jamie's fault! As far as Wimbledon is

:15:35. > :15:38.concerned, he would be there practising now - what he did here on

:15:39. > :15:47.Tuesday or forgotten. Probably, it might be fuel on the fire, I am

:15:48. > :15:51.terrible! But he uses that to drive him, and you are right, he will be

:15:52. > :15:58.down at Wimbledon practising all this week and next, and you would

:15:59. > :16:01.have to think that he will settle in to a pretty good frame of mind by

:16:02. > :16:06.the time the tournament rolls around. I think it will be key, how

:16:07. > :16:12.the draw pans out, he will be the first match on the first day, and we

:16:13. > :16:15.have talked about so many of these dangerous floaters, he will be

:16:16. > :16:22.keeping a keen eye on the draw. Best of five sets, to beat Andy Murray on

:16:23. > :16:25.any surface, grass almost impossible, it would take an immense

:16:26. > :16:30.performance for someone to knock him out of the first or second round in

:16:31. > :16:34.best of five said in his own home. I cannot see it happening, but there

:16:35. > :16:39.are some very dangerous floaters around. The depth in the men's game

:16:40. > :16:44.is soaked up now. We can have a look at the betting odds as far as it

:16:45. > :16:48.goes. He is second favourite, no doubt who is the favourite, Roger

:16:49. > :16:52.Federer, after the six months he has had since coming back. Marin Cilic

:16:53. > :17:00.was not in the top ten a few days ago, but moving up a bit. Rafael

:17:01. > :17:07.Nadal, who would you put as your overall favourite, Federer? Well, I

:17:08. > :17:13.am actually still sticking with Andy, but barely. I like the first

:17:14. > :17:21.two, but I also like Cilic and Dimitrov at 25-1. Rafa is the

:17:22. > :17:26.interesting one, won the French, playing awesome tennis, he is slow

:17:27. > :17:31.to get used to grass, but he could be brutal again, and Novak Djokovic,

:17:32. > :17:35.who knows with him? He has gone down in his form, but he is the

:17:36. > :17:41.unpredictable one of the four. It is the widest open Wimbledon in

:17:42. > :17:46.decades, really. There are ten people you could make an argument

:17:47. > :17:51.for. But as you say, the way that Roger Federer has played over the

:17:52. > :17:56.last year, taking six months after macro, first tournament back, wins

:17:57. > :18:01.the Australian. And the manner in which he won! He didn't creep over

:18:02. > :18:07.the line, he played a flawless tennis. Then Indian Wells, Miami,

:18:08. > :18:17.takes three or four months off, fine, this is a good thing for me!

:18:18. > :18:22.And now in the final in Halle, so it clearly has not affected him at all.

:18:23. > :18:28.And other player they will not want to meet two early on, Feliciano

:18:29. > :18:33.Lopez has been an awesome form, he is out on court right now, a repeat

:18:34. > :18:40.of the 2014 final, as he takes on Grigor Dimitrov. And there is

:18:41. > :18:46.Dimitrov, such a class player, isn't he, John? He is, and he had to dig

:18:47. > :18:50.deep in his last round, an interesting match against Medvedev,

:18:51. > :18:56.he was winning so easily, it looked like his opponent was going to

:18:57. > :18:59.default. He took his foot off the pedal for a second, he lost the

:19:00. > :19:03.second and was down a break and had to come up with a couple of amazing

:19:04. > :19:07.shots to get back up in the match. But he will take from that that you

:19:08. > :19:10.cannot take any match easy, but also the strength of character to come

:19:11. > :19:15.back when he looked like he was about to lose the match. And when

:19:16. > :19:19.you say play a couple of great shots, he really upped his game,

:19:20. > :19:22.which is what you're looking for. Let's hear what Grigor had to say

:19:23. > :19:27.after the match when he spoke to Catherine.

:19:28. > :19:32.When you last won here in 2014, you went on to have your best ever

:19:33. > :19:37.Wimbledon. How much do you want to win here? It is a very special

:19:38. > :19:42.tournament for me, and I kind of feel very relaxed, at the same time

:19:43. > :19:46.I am trying to put that pressure on myself, but that is the beauty of

:19:47. > :19:51.tennis. When you win once, you want to do it again, every tournament

:19:52. > :19:57.that you have done well, you kind of want to repeat that. All athletes,

:19:58. > :20:03.in general, we are so superstitious, I am doing the same things I did in

:20:04. > :20:08.2014. So far, I think everything is going well, I am looking match after

:20:09. > :20:14.match, I have very solid opponents in the next two rounds potentially,

:20:15. > :20:19.so I need to stay focused, stay grounded, look at what is ahead of

:20:20. > :20:25.me. The superstitions are certainly working, he has played some great

:20:26. > :20:28.tennis, and when he is on, Peter, he is so beautiful to watch, and if he

:20:29. > :20:34.can build on that confidence, he is capable of going through any player.

:20:35. > :20:38.He is beautiful to watch all of the time, such a graceful player, better

:20:39. > :20:43.on this surface, and he defends supremely well. It is interesting,

:20:44. > :20:48.though, the one semifinal is too has not been dominant to get to this

:20:49. > :20:54.point. The other three all got here without dropping serve at all. At

:20:55. > :20:59.that has almost been the good news for Dimitrov, because he has had to

:21:00. > :21:05.fight, and he has shown that he is able to come through under pressure.

:21:06. > :21:10.He is up against Feliciano Lopez, it will be interesting to see how much

:21:11. > :21:13.he has got in his legs as well, because that is going to be

:21:14. > :21:18.important. They have met so many times before, here, and the last

:21:19. > :21:21.meeting was in Cincinnati, and that was a long one, we have been

:21:22. > :21:24.predicting this could be a long match, it will be interesting to see

:21:25. > :21:29.how Lopez comes back from his match. Although Grigor played three sets,

:21:30. > :21:34.Lopez had a much more testing match against Berdych. Much more, and he

:21:35. > :21:40.has had a tough couple of weeks, he is amazingly fit, but grass takes it

:21:41. > :21:43.out of you, a lot of bending and stretching wide fourballs, very

:21:44. > :21:48.tough matches. He has had a lot of tough matches in the last ten or 12

:21:49. > :21:55.days, and I have got to favour Dimitrov, but this man, on is

:21:56. > :22:04.called, is so good. So affective, Peter, his serve. One of the great

:22:05. > :22:08.serves in the game, and if he can fire it down consistently well, he

:22:09. > :22:13.will hold serve most of the time. The one thing that Dimitrov brings

:22:14. > :22:17.to the game is the ability to put returns into play, so he will force

:22:18. > :22:22.Lopez to play more backcourt points, and maybe over time that might wear

:22:23. > :22:27.him down a little bit, we will have to wait and see. Interesting

:22:28. > :22:31.watching the practice court, Balbirnie working with Dimitrov,

:22:32. > :22:39.trying to be really aggressive, he wants him to be attacking, take the

:22:40. > :22:43.match away from Lopez today. Well, yeah, and I think when they get into

:22:44. > :22:49.a backcourt rally, if Dimitrov can work is way into the net, he forces

:22:50. > :22:54.Lopez to hit passing shots puff the backhand, which he is not that keen

:22:55. > :22:59.on doing. Lopez can slice the backhand until the cows come home,

:23:00. > :23:04.but if you force him to hit passing shots, topspin shots, he is less

:23:05. > :23:12.comfortable, so get in the net, put pressure on, falls into... Dominate

:23:13. > :23:16.from your side of the court, Lopez has such incredible feel with the

:23:17. > :23:21.racket, he can do all sorts of spins and slices, and if you let him take

:23:22. > :23:25.charge, you will be doing a lot of running. Absolutely, and Grigor is

:23:26. > :23:29.such a marvellous defender, sometimes he gets lulled into that,

:23:30. > :23:38.he likes chasing balls down and running for lost causes. And a lot

:23:39. > :23:43.of time he pulls it off, but I don't think that is the sort of game that

:23:44. > :23:49.he can play to beat the very best. No, but good to see him close back

:23:50. > :23:55.to his best. He might not be where he was in 2014, when he won here,

:23:56. > :23:58.Dimitrov we are talking about, went through to the semifinal of

:23:59. > :24:03.Wimbledon - not quite at that form but not far away. Not yet, and that

:24:04. > :24:07.is not necessarily the bad news, because of course Marin Cilic, I

:24:08. > :24:11.think, has peaked, he is playing about as well as he can play, and

:24:12. > :24:17.can he maintain that form for another three weeks? That remains to

:24:18. > :24:21.be seen. Whereas Dimitrov is growing, slowly and steadily full

:24:22. > :24:26.stop you think, OK, if you can maintain that growth through the

:24:27. > :24:31.first week in Wimbledon, then he is a real danger. Do you feel this is

:24:32. > :24:37.possibly one match too far for Lopez today? Well, possibly, it depends.

:24:38. > :24:44.If his shoulder is still all right and he can still bang down some

:24:45. > :24:47.first serves, then why not? You can get through two sets. If it is a

:24:48. > :24:52.long drawn-out affair and he has to play a lot from the backcourt, maybe

:24:53. > :24:55.so. OK, Peter, thank you. John has made his way to the commentary box

:24:56. > :25:03.to join Andrew Castle. Sue, thank you very much, playing

:25:04. > :25:08.for the privilege to meet Marin Cilic in the final, it was 2014 when

:25:09. > :25:12.Dimitrov won. What am I talking about? This is the repeat of the

:25:13. > :27:14.2014 final! Dimitrov to serve. He was 0-30 down against Medvedev in

:27:15. > :27:22.yesterday's quarterfinal in his first service game before settling.

:27:23. > :27:58.Oh, that is a perfect serve. UMPIRE: Mr Lopez is challenging the

:27:59. > :28:01.call on the centre service line. Lopez just hoping that the

:28:02. > :28:05.centreline might have spread a little bit, the dust flying

:28:06. > :28:35.everywhere, but no joy for him. Amazing how far he gets round and

:28:36. > :28:39.not forehand - I thought when Lopez hit that backhand slice that

:28:40. > :28:45.Dimitrov would have to hit a backhand, but he even got round that

:28:46. > :28:53.one, so low, almost at the line, he got rounded and with the forehand,

:28:54. > :28:57.such a big shot. Oh, well, that is painting the lines, from 15-40 down,

:28:58. > :29:05.he has served his way out of trouble straightaway, that will be a relief

:29:06. > :29:08.for the coaching box, the first game of this second semifinal concluded.

:29:09. > :29:14.There is a fellow called George in Hawk-Eye, and he has been putting

:29:15. > :29:21.this together, this is the 2014 final against Lopez, Dimitrov

:29:22. > :29:28.against Lopez. These are crucial points, the first big hit after the

:29:29. > :29:34.serve, look at the red, that is the forehand, 81% after the returns.

:29:35. > :29:35.Look at the wits, on both sides. And where does he hit it? Right into the

:29:36. > :29:43.corners. That's what Dimitrov can do, such as

:29:44. > :30:03.the footwork we were just talking about.

:30:04. > :30:30.91 mph forehand! I don't remember any of those with a wooden racket! I

:30:31. > :30:32.don't from the serve. Let alone a ground stroke. Cars didn't even use

:30:33. > :31:03.to go that fast! Oh, what a lovely rally that was!

:31:04. > :31:06.Dimitrov knows going into that backhand side he hasn't got too much

:31:07. > :31:11.to worry about in terms of being threatened on the backhand. He knows

:31:12. > :31:14.he is not going to get easy point of Maximo has sliced backhand, but he

:31:15. > :31:19.can go there all day long if he wants to. He has to hit it pretty

:31:20. > :31:25.deep though, otherwise Lopez can chip in on that shot. Lopez I think

:31:26. > :31:27.has one of the best approach shot on grass in the game, he slices it, the

:31:28. > :31:46.depth that he has. Oh, what a game! Well, I like what

:31:47. > :31:49.I'm seeing so far from both players. Just in case there's any doubt as to

:31:50. > :32:01.what you get on the Lopez backhand side. Uncle George and his Hawk-Eye

:32:02. > :32:07.and their have put this together, 92% of the time, the backhands are

:32:08. > :32:22.slicing. He might come across it on a passing shot.

:32:23. > :32:28.He's actually sort of a bit of an old-time player in that respect,

:32:29. > :32:32.there's not many players on the Tour, if any, that would hit this

:32:33. > :32:36.life that much and without coming over the ball in today's game, I

:32:37. > :32:41.can't think of anybody else even close to that many sliced backhand.

:32:42. > :32:52.Federer did go through a phase of slicing a lot. Not now, though. No.

:32:53. > :33:03.I remember Matt philander playing against Lendl in the Open, he played

:33:04. > :33:07.the fifth set and he only hit one-handed slices. He didn't come of

:33:08. > :33:11.it backhand. He knew that Lendl didn't want to play against the

:33:12. > :33:22.slice. Fabulous set of tennis that was.

:33:23. > :33:31.Oh! That's why he doesn't come over it! It's a rotten thing... Through

:33:32. > :33:33.that one out, we won't see another one again for the rest of the day

:33:34. > :33:48.after that effort! Just a slight lack of poor use there

:33:49. > :34:00.for a second, and that will be the last time we see that as well --

:34:01. > :34:05.lack of -- poise. There's another one! The coach is probably looking

:34:06. > :34:09.at him now saying, please, what are you doing?! There is the 8% rule.

:34:10. > :34:14.That was so good the way that he knifed that one across. He got

:34:15. > :34:19.ambitious, she just changes his grip a bit, coming over the ball. There's

:34:20. > :34:21.no height on that one. Leaning back a little bit as well. He looks down

:34:22. > :35:00.the racket. I think everyone will come back in.

:35:01. > :35:06.I think they've all gone. The first semifinal, seeing Marin Cilic here

:35:07. > :35:17.to the final here at Queen's Cup. -- Queen's Club.

:35:18. > :35:24.The world's first multisports club, this. Football, rugby and athletics

:35:25. > :35:28.all played here to international and world level. They played England

:35:29. > :35:32.football matches here. Then that moved to Wembley. Rugby moved to

:35:33. > :35:38.Twickenham, and athletics moved to White city. But it all started here.

:35:39. > :35:44.It's been remodelled a number of times. I was thinking it's been

:35:45. > :35:48.remodelled quite a lot, but I've been coming here for 45 years! John,

:35:49. > :35:56.you've probably been coming here even longer! Just slightly! We are

:35:57. > :36:00.on the 84 heading out of London, Heathrow is ten or 11 miles away.

:36:01. > :36:05.You can see why spectators love this. It is a very intimate arena.

:36:06. > :36:09.You feel like you're very close to the players. Sometimes in stadiums

:36:10. > :36:13.these days, particularly at the US Open, if you happen to have friends

:36:14. > :36:18.who are not very nice and they get you tickets, you have to have

:36:19. > :36:22.binoculars to see the ball, it's so high! Whereas you come to replace

:36:23. > :36:26.like Queen's, look how close they are to the players. There is not a

:36:27. > :36:30.bad seat in the house here. You can see where the actual Borges. It is

:36:31. > :36:33.like football stadiums that have an athletic track around them, it is

:36:34. > :36:38.too far away. White Hart Lane has gone now, that was a wonderful

:36:39. > :36:47.stadium to watch close by. Wembley is good, by the way. Wembley's. --

:36:48. > :36:53.Wembley's fantastic. The players like to feel the action around, not

:36:54. > :36:58.being too distant away for all the applause and everything else.

:36:59. > :37:02.Wimbledon is the same. Centre Court, you go there when there is no one in

:37:03. > :37:06.there, and you say, well, there's actually 15,000 that can get him

:37:07. > :37:22.here, and you think, no, but it grows with people.

:37:23. > :37:38.Just that one example in that rally, the Dimitrov forehand, where he did

:37:39. > :37:41.the looping forehand with the amazing spin. When you are sitting

:37:42. > :37:45.there caught sight watching that, you think it's going to go out. And

:37:46. > :38:04.then the strings just brings the ball down, it dips.

:38:05. > :38:21.He's been wearing that shirt all week, the Dennis the Menace shirt.

:38:22. > :38:29.I've never known anybody go to work more than Feliciano Lopez, a huge

:38:30. > :38:33.respect for his appetite for competing, week in, week out.

:38:34. > :38:37.Watching him arriving on Monday morning, exhausted from his efforts

:38:38. > :38:45.the week before, thinking, you probably won't be around long. One!

:38:46. > :38:50.-- wrong. Oh, that is a gorgeous drive from labours. I thought, when

:38:51. > :38:53.he went to hit this, he's in trouble, here. You don't want to be

:38:54. > :39:01.hitting it from there. Look... That just amazing. I'm not too sure he's

:39:02. > :39:05.feeling that fresh at the moment. I'm watching him between points. He

:39:06. > :39:10.always walks with a certain air about him, quite slowly. He's just

:39:11. > :39:48.taking his time between points at the moment.

:39:49. > :39:55.The mis-hit was caught from his friend. There's Jonas Bjorkman,

:39:56. > :40:07.doing scouting. And who's that on the right? A friend of yours, John?

:40:08. > :40:35.Yes. You don't see this sort of shot very

:40:36. > :40:39.often. You can see the way he sneaks in here. Lopez did see him at the

:40:40. > :40:43.end, but it was so low, and by that time he had got close to the top of

:40:44. > :41:03.the net. He knew he was in big trouble.

:41:04. > :41:14.APPLAUSE A lot easier service game than the

:41:15. > :41:18.first two. He is settling into his rhythm now. Practising at Wimbledon

:41:19. > :41:23.last Saturday. The sunshine and the heat, he was playing with Jamie

:41:24. > :41:27.Baker. The former British Davis Cup player and our colleague in the BBC

:41:28. > :41:32.commentary box. First with Jamie, then with Ross Hutchins. He's just

:41:33. > :41:35.watching Dimitrov practice at the moment. There's a great intensity

:41:36. > :41:40.about him which he brought to the tournament court. Clearly hitting

:41:41. > :41:45.the ball well and enjoying his tennis. Cilic is exactly the same,

:41:46. > :41:49.he brought that positivity to the court. And not everybody did this

:41:50. > :41:53.week. A couple of slow starters. When Andy Murray tried to get going

:41:54. > :41:56.against Jordan Thompson in his first-round match here, he actually

:41:57. > :42:01.played very well, but Jordan Thomson played out of his mind. Heeded. You

:42:02. > :42:06.do have to start a match, particularly on grass, quickly. One

:42:07. > :42:09.break down between these two, the break is off best-of-3,

:42:10. > :42:15.particularly. The best-of-5. You have got to focus right from the

:42:16. > :42:23.beginning, best-of-3 matches can go quite quickly. That is why Lopez, he

:42:24. > :42:27.had two 0-30s, in the second service game he played a couple of slack

:42:28. > :42:28.points. He tried to go into the backhand. He could have had a chance

:42:29. > :43:50.of a break there. APPLAUSE

:43:51. > :43:57.So good! That is just so good. A lot of

:43:58. > :44:02.players, well, not many people Borlee as well as he does, but a lot

:44:03. > :44:06.of players would have bullied into the open court. But Lopez and he

:44:07. > :44:21.went behind his man, forced Dimitrov to hit the -- the lob.

:44:22. > :44:30.He's been on four winning Davis Cup teams. Amazing, what a career. It

:44:31. > :44:32.does help when you've got Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer... And a few

:44:33. > :44:44.others. A great warrior on the Spanish team.

:44:45. > :44:54.Rain coming down again. Third time we've had to wait and see.

:44:55. > :45:00.Dimitrov clearly does not fancy and, the French umpire is perfectly happy

:45:01. > :45:07.to go with the players on this, just a little pulse of rain, I do not

:45:08. > :45:13.think we will be too long. On the phone to the referee and various

:45:14. > :45:15.others, and we will just have a little weight here. I suspect the

:45:16. > :45:28.players will not go off court. It remains to be seen whether they

:45:29. > :45:33.will want to cover the court. He does not like to, because it seals

:45:34. > :45:46.in the moisture, but here he comes, Graham, at the end of the court.

:45:47. > :45:51.Everybody sees him, oh, he is back! I hope this break is not long. You

:45:52. > :45:55.don't want the players to cool down, this was such a good start to this

:45:56. > :46:00.match, the quality we have seen in the first six games, phenomenal

:46:01. > :46:11.points, grass court tennis at its best. We have seen a backhand of 90

:46:12. > :46:14.mph and a forehand over that from Dimitrov already, slicing and

:46:15. > :46:22.dicing, as we have come to expect from Feliciano Lopez, and the art of

:46:23. > :46:27.Ollie behind an opponent. Pat Cash was a great exponent of that, if you

:46:28. > :46:31.ever get stuck in club tennis, wondering where to volley, or second

:46:32. > :46:35.guessing yourself, put it back behind the opponent, so even if you

:46:36. > :46:38.look up and you think they are there, just volley back to where

:46:39. > :46:46.they have come from, you should get a lovely reward from that. Any time

:46:47. > :46:54.you can take decision-making out of it. Absolutely! We have already seen

:46:55. > :47:03.the Lopez drop volley is just fantastic, the defensive skills of

:47:04. > :47:07.Dimitrov, the way glides and nudges that sliced backhand out wide,

:47:08. > :47:12.getting back into a deep position, immediately occupying the middle of

:47:13. > :47:21.the court to take over the rally, really fantastic play. I think it

:47:22. > :47:26.might have stopped raining now, suddenly weakened a bit, so we

:47:27. > :47:29.shouldn't be too far away here. Are you as surprised as I am that

:47:30. > :47:34.Dimitrov has only been as high as number eight in the world? Back in

:47:35. > :47:39.2014, when Andy Murray was defending Wimbledon champion, I know he was

:47:40. > :47:42.not at his best then, but Dimitrov was playing unbelievable tennis, a

:47:43. > :47:49.very windy day, he lost to Djokovic in the semifinal. Not quite able to

:47:50. > :47:54.give his best, four tight sets, but a bit of an ugly match. Later on

:47:55. > :48:00.that year, he was at number eight, but since then he has not been able

:48:01. > :48:04.to achieve that. You are right, but at the level we are talking about,

:48:05. > :48:09.talking about Grand Slam winners here, the mental side is so

:48:10. > :48:14.important. I don't think that he believed in himself at crucial

:48:15. > :48:17.moments. I think he does now, and I think that semifinal at the

:48:18. > :48:22.Australian Open has helped him a lot, even though we lost, because it

:48:23. > :48:27.was one of the great matches of all time. Against Nadal. And he did

:48:28. > :48:34.nothing there to lose, and I think he has that belief that he could go

:48:35. > :48:39.to the next step. Five hours, five sets, and overshadowed by the

:48:40. > :48:42.Nadal-Federer final, which was a wonderful contest, but the first 17

:48:43. > :48:51.matches of the year for Dimitrov, just that one loss, he was the man.

:48:52. > :48:57.Yeah. I think those two back-to-back matches at the Australian Open, two

:48:58. > :49:03.of the best that I have ever seen. Very rarely do you get that sort of

:49:04. > :49:12.stuff happening in one tournament, back-to-back, what a tournament that

:49:13. > :49:15.was, what a Slam. #bbctennis if you want to get in touch, Allen says,

:49:16. > :49:21.when is the draw for Wimbledon taking place? I was thinking, I must

:49:22. > :49:29.look that up. The seeding comes out on Tuesday, or is it Wednesday? And

:49:30. > :49:33.then I think don't they have a day off to have a look at it, and then

:49:34. > :49:41.they do the draw on Thursday? Thursday, that is right. The big

:49:42. > :49:46.being there, when you look at the quarters, who is in which half of

:49:47. > :49:50.the draw, it is always fun to look at that - maybe not so for the

:49:51. > :49:54.players, but for the spectators, to look for the danger man, the

:49:55. > :49:59.dangerous women, where they are in the draw. I must say, the women's

:50:00. > :50:03.draw, there is about 15 women who could win Wimbledon this year, one

:50:04. > :50:09.of the most open ever. The men's, I don't think quite that many, but

:50:10. > :50:13.still extremely open as well. Petra Kvitova playing his back into form

:50:14. > :50:18.after protecting herself from a burglar at home around Christmas and

:50:19. > :50:22.New Year, who was armed. She defended herself and cut her hand

:50:23. > :50:27.and had to have surgery, so she has been out for months, and as she goes

:50:28. > :50:30.about her business in such a quiet way, so her comeback has been quiet,

:50:31. > :50:35.but is delighted to have her back. She says she is fine and has put

:50:36. > :50:39.that behind her, but certainly a very dramatic moment in anybody's

:50:40. > :50:47.life, so delighted to see her back and playing well. What else have we

:50:48. > :50:52.got here? #bbctennis, like I say, does anyone think a fit Nadal can

:50:53. > :50:57.get into the second week at Wimbledon? Well, yes! Absolutely,

:50:58. > :51:05.but I was talking with Peter Fleming, his last four losses,

:51:06. > :51:11.stretching back to 2011, Rosol, Nick Kyrgios, Steve Darcis. It is a good

:51:12. > :51:17.question, because he hasn't done, but can he now? Absolutely, the

:51:18. > :51:21.confidence in his game. John said he enjoyed the previous semifinal, out

:51:22. > :51:29.of all the tennis players, who has the slowest serve? I don't know

:51:30. > :51:32.that! It is a good question. The slowest of my generation was Ramage

:51:33. > :51:40.Krishnan, the Indian player, very fine player, he was so slow, it

:51:41. > :51:43.would hit him in the back of the head, he would be waiting for a

:51:44. > :52:03.volley and his own serve would hit him. Quite a few years before that,

:52:04. > :52:07.Ken Rosewall! Tiny serve! What else have we got here? Why are there no

:52:08. > :52:13.ATP 1000 tournaments on grass, the nine big tournaments on the tour?

:52:14. > :52:18.Well, no room on the calendar for them.

:52:19. > :52:26.UMPIRE: Please take your seats quickly. I suppose this and Halle

:52:27. > :54:04.would be the nearest, it is the date in the calendar.

:54:05. > :54:15.That was a long way out! Comfortable hold for Dimitrov.

:54:16. > :54:23.We were talking about Lopez, sometimes between points, he seems

:54:24. > :54:27.to be a bit slow. Very slow getting to the changeover, if you have

:54:28. > :54:31.noticed that, he is about twice as slow as Dimitrov, it almost looks

:54:32. > :54:39.like he wants to sit down but he cannot quite get there! It is

:54:40. > :54:50.interesting, he has had a busy week, six and five against Stan Wawrinka,

:54:51. > :54:56.one and six against Chardy, and then that long match against Tomas

:54:57. > :55:03.Berdych. As he entered into Eastbourne? I was just wondering the

:55:04. > :55:06.same thing. If he has, he is going, oh... Really?! This again?! You know

:55:07. > :55:31.he will give it everything. Is brother, Francisco Clavet, was

:55:32. > :55:34.the final of the Clavet brothers. Second semifinal, Cilic won the

:55:35. > :55:38.first, this is the man who has not lost his serve all tournament. The

:55:39. > :56:34.only manner amazing not to do so. On this surface, that approach is

:56:35. > :56:37.just deadly. You would need a spade to dig this one up, that is a daisy

:56:38. > :57:02.cutter. He's coming over his backhand more,

:57:03. > :57:06.Feliciano Lopez, than I have seen him in previous matches. Trying to

:57:07. > :57:38.keep these points short. It just shows you the power these

:57:39. > :57:43.players have, look how far he is behind the baseline, 95 mph against

:57:44. > :58:37.Dimitrov, who is so fast, and it is a clean winner from there.

:58:38. > :01:22.A stretch from Lopez, no doubt feeling that long match yesterday.

:01:23. > :01:29.But we are still on serve in this second semifinal. The other was --

:01:30. > :01:37.grass court tournament is being played in Halle at the moment. Roger

:01:38. > :01:40.Federer is through to the semifinal, due to plate Sascha Zverev, who came

:01:41. > :01:43.from a set down to defeat Richard Gasquet. Zverev beating Federer in

:01:44. > :01:56.the semifinals last year. COMMENTATOR: Thank you, soon. It

:01:57. > :01:59.will be great seeing that, Federer back in form, and Zverev is the real

:02:00. > :02:05.deal, no doubt about that. He has demonstrated that on the clay-court

:02:06. > :02:09.season. Peter Fleming inform me, extensive research, clearly hitting

:02:10. > :02:17.the computer hard, if you look at the year to date results, there is a

:02:18. > :02:21.slightly different ranking than the 12 month ranking. There has actually

:02:22. > :02:23.had the fifth best year of anybody. He is number five in the race

:02:24. > :02:35.rankings, as they are called. We've been introduced to Daniel

:02:36. > :02:56.Medvedev, the 21-year-old from Russia.

:02:57. > :03:05.We have seen some good youngsters here this week. Dimitrov, the

:03:06. > :03:53.youngest semifinalist. Playing here at Queen's this year. 26 years old.

:03:54. > :04:09.Quick game. Just what you want. A momentum builder, perhaps, with one

:04:10. > :05:23.of those first two points, or both. Off a slice like that from Lopez,

:05:24. > :05:25.the timing has to be so pinpoint if you are going to come up and over

:05:26. > :05:55.the ball. With top-spin. APPLAUSE

:05:56. > :07:36.You have to go close to the backhand side there.

:07:37. > :07:47.Too many errors from Grigor Dimitrov, unforced errors mounting

:07:48. > :07:53.up. His coach used to coach Tomas Berdych. And before that, he was

:07:54. > :08:15.with Andy Murray, his close friend, coaching him.

:08:16. > :08:22.Here is a big moment coming up. It is a third break point. Feliciano

:08:23. > :08:30.Lopez, the first two in the first game. Here we are, some 40 minutes

:08:31. > :08:46.later, it is a virtual set point the way that Lopez has been serving.

:08:47. > :08:55.And that pressure tells! Lopez coming in on the sliced backhand,

:08:56. > :08:57.can you pass me on a big point? Absolutely not! Lopez serves for the

:08:58. > :09:01.first set. STUDIO: We will be right back with

:09:02. > :09:05.that but we only have a few minutes left here on BBC One, so the match

:09:06. > :09:09.will go on to the red button in just a few moments. If you are just

:09:10. > :09:17.joining us here, one result to bring you from the first dummy final.

:09:18. > :09:23.Marin -- the first semifinal. Marin Cilic worked very hard, winning 6-4

:09:24. > :09:27.in the third. A long, long match. He is through to the final once again.

:09:28. > :09:33.And that victory means he will move up to six in the world rankings, at

:09:34. > :09:37.least six in the world rankings, his career high. Marin Cilic back in the

:09:38. > :09:42.final at Queen's once again. And we will be here for the final tomorrow

:09:43. > :09:48.on BBC One here from 2pm. The men's final, live from Queen's Cup, TPM

:09:49. > :09:53.here on BBC One. Just a few moments left, -- on 2pm. Lopez serving for

:09:54. > :09:59.the set. COMMENTATOR: It is 2pm for that

:10:00. > :10:03.final. After that, John, don't forget to bring your shorts, shoes

:10:04. > :10:07.and tennis rackets, because you and me are going to try and play for

:10:08. > :10:15.half an hour! We will find a grass court if they will let us. 15

:10:16. > :10:19.minutes for me! It is just a wonderful surface here. Beautifully

:10:20. > :11:37.prepared. Now then, Lopez serving for the first set.

:11:38. > :11:46.Dimitrov had to come back from one set down against Julien Benneteau,

:11:47. > :11:47.the qualifier from France. It looked like it could be the same task again

:11:48. > :12:06.here. And that's it! What a great effort

:12:07. > :12:10.from Feliciano Lopez. He might be struggling physically a little, but

:12:11. > :12:14.even if he is, he has enough know-how on this service to get the

:12:15. > :12:22.job done. Just the one break of serve at 5-5. And he takes his

:12:23. > :12:27.chance, serving magnificently. I think the only thing, if I was his

:12:28. > :12:31.coach, Dimitrov's coach, he's just been guilty in the last couple of

:12:32. > :12:38.matches, he did this against Medvedev and of the last service

:12:39. > :12:41.game against Lopez, just guilty of a lapse of concentration. But with two

:12:42. > :12:46.or three points in a row, it is big enough to lose the break against

:12:47. > :12:49.Medvedev, he got it back again. The same thing against Lopez. And you

:12:50. > :12:54.can't do that at this level on grass, you just can't. He has two

:12:55. > :12:59.iron that out if he is going to just win this big match. Do you think

:13:00. > :13:04.there is a sense that he is trying to prepare for Wimbledon with this?

:13:05. > :13:10.I've noticed this week he has been returning harder, quicker. Maybe. I

:13:11. > :13:14.don't know whether he is taking anything from the practice court out

:13:15. > :13:20.onto the match court, I might be wrong on that. You can see the

:13:21. > :13:26.enforced errors -- the unforced errors. You can see, Lopez is very

:13:27. > :13:29.solid and Dimitrov, more unforced errors. Particularly on some big

:13:30. > :13:36.points, that is really what cost him that set. Both players getting

:13:37. > :13:43.effectively perfect, but Dimitrov only getting in wants. If you don't

:13:44. > :13:49.get in, Lopez well. One of them was break point 5-5, he's lost it to

:13:50. > :13:55.Dimitrov's backhand. If you can pass from your angles, then good luck.

:13:56. > :14:01.The racket will get stuck on your laces that low! Imagine what he

:14:02. > :14:03.would be like on the old-fashioned brass chords! Put him on Felixstowe

:14:04. > :16:07.or Southsea! -- grass courts. No sign of crew go Dimitrov's

:16:08. > :16:11.partner, Nicole Scherzinger. I don't spend much time on those social

:16:12. > :16:19.pages, but we saw pictures at the beginning of the show, Sharapova,

:16:20. > :16:21.his former partner, watching. He has certainly got crossover status, Greg

:16:22. > :16:32.Owen Dimitrov, into the mainstream, he has got a celebrity. If he wins a

:16:33. > :16:47.slam, I agree, potential for a real crossover star.

:16:48. > :17:02.Ireland are seeing Maria Sharapova here want fairly bleak Monday

:17:03. > :17:06.evening, arriving on the Tube to see her boyfriend, good commitment. I

:17:07. > :17:13.saw Nicole should sing on the back of a bus advertising something! --

:17:14. > :17:21.Nicole Scherzinger. It's not really the same thing, is it? Not quite! I

:17:22. > :17:53.almost wrote in to her on my motorbike, actually!

:17:54. > :18:02.If he is a bit tired after this week's exertions, Lopez, still

:18:03. > :18:05.throwing this ball in at 130 mph plus, consistently, and left-handed.

:18:06. > :18:34.Yes. SUE BARKER: We have come to the end

:18:35. > :18:37.of our transmission on BBC One, but this match will be available on the

:18:38. > :18:41.red button and the BBC Sport website. We will be back tomorrow

:18:42. > :18:49.for the final, Marin Cilic is already there, who will

:18:50. > :18:52.MUSIC: Fight For Your Right by Beastie Boys